I get questions from users now and again, whether or not we sent an email asking for account information. The answer is always NO! (Sorry for shouting) We will never send you an email asking for your account information. This is something that I’ve written about before but it never hurts to post about it again.
Here is an example of a phishing email that I received recently:
We definitely did not send this email. This one, and others like it, all pretty much follow the same formula:
- They are sent from a strange email address (but sometimes masked to look genuine)
- They usually use a scare tactic
- They want you to reply with your account information
- They have bad grammatical errors and use crazy fonts and lots of logos.
The most important thing to know is we will never ask you for your password! Here are some other tips to protect you from phishing threats: Never click on links in emails that ask you to provide account information, go directly to the website and login from there, don’t believe every warning you read in an email. And finally, there is no Yahoo Lottery.
To coin a phrase from my all-time favorite daytime cartoon series G.I. Joe – “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.”
