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Sunday, February 25, 2007

Speaking of Spam and Spoof Email

Speaking of spam and spoof emails (did you see my recent article on the spam from a Donald Trump organization?), do you know what to do if you receive an email that may be a spoof that is phishing for your personal information? Have you ever received an email from "paypal" or "ebay" that says something like "Please confirm your purchase". I just received two of those emails today. Here are two things you can do to see if the email is legitimate or not.

First, move your mouse over the link that says "Respond" or "Click here to challenge this purchase". But do not click on the link!!! When you do a mouseover, the link of where you will be directed to will appear on the screen. Check it very closely. If it says paypal.com, it's OK. But if it says paypal.com.xyz.com or paypall.com or xyz.com/paypal.com or some other permutation, then you won't be on a Paypal site if you click on it.

The second way is to forward the email to the actual organization, asking them if it is a legitimate email. The addresses you should use for these purposes are:
spoof@ebay.com
spoof@paypal.com
abuse@aol.com

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