I get those all the time. I know they are fraud emails because some of them are from stores I have never heard of before. I hate them and always send them to my SPAM folder, but it always seems to get through the filter!
I have certainly gotten spam emails like that from stores I -don't- shop at. They're basically banking on someone out there having ordered from the store recently and being willing to click to see what the problem is. That's when they get all your info and put you into danger.
I get them from banks saying my accounts have been compromised! Sort of the same thing, I guess, but so scary!
It happened to be with Amazon a day after I ordered something. The return email was from Amazon.com. I was told by someone that scammers can mask their email addresses now and use a legitimate sounding one. I think that more should be done by these companies. I never received a warning email.
If I get an email from a bank, I know it's fake because I know where I bank at. I've been living frugally because I'm trying to save up for a goal, so if I get an email from a store, I know I didn't shop there unless it's Family Dollar or Walmart. Maybe 6 years ago when I shopped at nicer stores, they would have gotten me. But now I delete those emails as soon as I see them.
I get emails from stores claiming that items I didn't order had been cancelled. I figure, if you're going to go through all the trouble to farm my email and masquerade as a legitimate company, you may as well go the extra mile and determine whether or not I've recently ordered something before you make the claim that my order was cancelled. Lazy hackers...
When you get a phishing type of email or a bogus email from someone that's only trying to get your login information, forward the phishing email to: [email protected] ... If we continue to do this on a regular basis it won't stop bogus emails but it will certainly decrease the number we receive as a whole. It's a shame when you have people that try to make an honest living on the Internet, but then you have to deal with the many shysters out there. Instead of trying to make an honest buck, their sole purpose is to get over on people. I've always wondered how people like that can look at themselves in the mirror. But I suppose it's easy when you don't have a conscious.
There is a reason they call them scam 'artists'...there really is an art to fooling so many.....'you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time'....that's why they have to keep working at it.
Not happened to me yet, but if they have your email addy, it seems like they know that you shop at that certain store. It might be a good idea to forward that 'spam email' to the actual store, so that they too are aware. Another thing you could do is to mark the genuine email id of the store as 'safe' and mark the other as spam. This should help filter them at source. Additionally, you could save your log-in details at the genuine store website, so that when you revisit, your details are thrown up automatically by your browser or website cookies. This way, you can be sure that you are on a legit site.
Haven't had this happen to me...yet! It is good to be aware of them and what the lastest methods these scammers are using. Having a forum like this to share what is going on out there in cyber world is a great way for all of us to be aware of these scams so we can avoid them. Some good info here and on gina121's link above as well. Thanks!
I have actually gotten spam emails from the address of friends and acquaintances saying that they were out of town and got mugged, etc. That one actually fooled me for a minute because the first time they chose a friend who is a musician and tours a lot and whom I had not seen in a good three years. When they did it again with a person I had seen a week ago I figured out that it was a scam. Interestingly enough, another close friend of mine actually did get mugged while he was in Europe... and didn't send an email to anybody. I heard the story when he got back.
I have and this is a really common spam email that many of my friends also receive! Besides this above "scenario" spelt out in your email, there are also some from banks informing you about an issue with your account, that you have won a lottery draw that took place a few thousand miles from where you actually live and even personal pleas from people asking you to be a guarantor of their loans! These emails usually contain harmful links to sites that either contain inappropriate material or is laden with malware and viruses. If you really feel that the email might be legit, before you click on any links, place your mouse over it and look out for the actual address of that link which usually appears at the bottom left or right of your browser window. If it does not even correspond to the name of the institution the email was sent from, you should be deleting the mail right away!
Yeah I get such emails from time to time. The best way to avoid such traps is not to click on any link present in the mail. Scammers have become very smart these days; they send emails that look totally genuine. Another trick to find scam emails is to search for the email text in Google, if you find a lot of results with people complaining then it's definitely a scam. There are other sophisticated techniques available to check the genuineness of an email but it does require a bit of technical knowledge.
Banks and government agencies dont send emails asking for information - at least not in my experience.
This is exactly what I do, and probably the best course of action to take under these circumstances. Yes, odds are this is a scam but on rare occasions these sort of emails are legit. So the best thing to do is to go to your account through your browser to make certain everything is all right with your account. Then if you see a problem go about fixing it. But under no circumstances click on the url in the email. Because you never know what you could be doing to your PC or your account information when doing this.
I have had this happen as well and it really is annoying, but I just reported it as spam and if I get any other ones that are like this I just delete them.
Yeah count me on the list too. I got one from the Better Business Bureau telling me a client or customer had lodged a complaint. Trouble was, I am not in business and the city was American not Canadian. Some of them are quite inventive. And even slightly amusing, like a 'barrister 'who was representing a person I was apparently related to who was quite wealthy. Hmmm. so when does my inheritance arrive? ryder13
