E-Mail Verification Hoaxes

Phishing scams are increasingly more popular and can come from all different industries. Phishing essentially is the process where fraudulent e-mail is used in order to attain sensitive information. They appear to be coming from a trustworthy place or sites with which you have an account. Examples include as CitiBank, IRS, EBay and PayPal. Hoaxes from various networks are popular as well, including MSN, Yahoo, and Hotmail. Scams from e-mail providers have been around for years and can resurface. It appears that various e-mail account services are sending out messages that require users to verify their account information. This includes user-name, password, birthday, and country/territory. However, these e-mails are a series of hoaxes that should not be replied to.

Usually the e-mail claims that the provider is closing unused accounts due to congestion, and that the only way to keep your account active is to reply with the desired information. Some services also claim that they only have a certain amount of user-names left, so they need to close all the inactive accounts. This is an example of an e-mail that is being sent out:

Furthermore, here are the top ways to determine if the e-mail is faulty:

• The e-mail requires you to send your information through a reply e-mail or provides a link that takes you to a spoof page, where your data is then captured.
• The “reply-to” e-mail address or the links look reputable, but when moused over, a different and suspicious address or website is shown.
• The content may appear to be genuine, including logos and links, but one or more of the links may lead to the fraudulent website.
  
• They include generic greetings such as "Dear Account Holder". The e-mail would usually include the user's name if it were from the actual provider.
  
• It is common for these e-mails to return at a later date, even if you have already handed over your information. They can even return a day or two later, but not always from the same sender.

If you receive this e-mail, be sure not to give away any of your information. Be careful and use these tips in order to protect your account!

Visit these links to learn more about phishing scams and see examples:

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/phisher-scams.html#phishing-examples

http://www.millersmiles.co.uk/identitytheft/021605-Msn-Warning-Message-Your-account-is-near-to-be-disconnected.php

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/yahoo-mail-phish.shtml

http://www.somalia24.com/?p=29559