question regarding msn.com users
 

I received an email, supposedly from msn, requesting personal information such as SSN, msn password, etc.

It said if I didn't provide this info "to update their database", my email service would be halted.

Any other MSN users get this email? I feel this could be an attempt to steal my identity.

How would I go about finding out if it is bogus?

I guess I'll find out it's not bogus if my email stops! :eek:

Cheers,

Bill

No service provider, MSN or anyon else, will send you an email asking you to verify your social security number or password. If you're not sure, call or email MSN yourself using contact info from the MSN site's contact information. Don't trust any contact information given in that email you received, and don't trust a website you get to via a link in that email. I promise this email is not from MSN.

Don't provide anyone your social security number unless necessary -- for an employer's tax paperwork, for example. Anyone who has your SSN might as well have open access to your wallet.

Always trust your first instinct. Delete it and don't look back. :spam:

I don't trust this email at all, believe me.

I do trust you guys and gals!

I think you are correct webwench. Seems to me I've gotten notices before stating nobody from MSN will ask for a pasword, let alone my SSN.

And germanstar, I have learned over and over, usually your first gut instinct is right. Being in the antiques biz for 28 years has taught me if I feel at first glance something has been altered, it has been.

Thank you for the verification of my distrust.

Cheers,

Bill

There is another one going around that purports to be from Pay-Pal. Just the newest offering from our Nigerian friends.

I regularly get them from someone who is spoofing citibank. The email looks very official, the site it links to is on a very plausible domain name, the only giveaway is the content (it asks for private information via email, which a bank would never, ever do) and the address ends in something other than .com. I also get an email from 'eBay' asking me to go to this site and 'confirm' my account information. Very convincing if you don't know how SSL works, but still fake.

OH S&*#---I just hit this link and I got one the other day and SENT INFO OFF!!!!

Found out from Verizon that the email I received tonight is bogus.

Man, I'm off to call Visa.

Thank you all...

Cheers?,

Bill

WEBWENCH---Thank you, thank you, thank you--a MILLION thanks.

I just got off the phone with Visa and no bogus charges have been made to my account. Luckily I just got this email from Ebay yesterday.

My God, you saved us a TON of aggravation/hassle. Boy, I know this is a great site to come to to talk MB talk, but I never dreamed one day one of you would save my butt in such a huge way.

Too bad you don't live closer to me. I'd take you out to dinner, clean your whole house, service your cars needs for life, do your laundry, clean the litter box [I know you have/love cats--BTW-I don't, so thats a big statement for me to make!], restore any furniture you might have, fix anything in your house, do your grocery shopping, kick your boyfriends a*^ when he gets outta line, wash your feet, take the cats to the vet when needed, steam clean your carpet, make your bed, go to work for you, answer the phone to make sure it isn't a telemarketer and anything else you could think of I could do. LOL :D

What a hassle you saved me and what luck--I just got the email yesterday. Sheesh....how lucky can a person get? I am so thankful.

BTW, Visa said they got a letter from Ebay stating this email I got is bogus so you were 100% right....

MANY Cheers,

Bill

I don't suppose you have any experience with evil stepmothers... :witch:

:D

Just post her email address so we can all forward our Nigerian mail to her!

Not personally, but I do know a couple of mojos. :D

BTW, mojo=voodoo. I'm sure our deep South members already know what a mojo is. Some Yankees know the term too. :D

Do these bogus emails come mainly from Nigeria?

Cheers,

Bill

Damn, now I really wish you were local :D

Webwench, I am just glad I got it straight before a can of worms evolved.

Obviously I am not a computer pro but luckily am associated with people like you that are.

I am a very quick two-finger typist. LOL :D

Thanks again...

Cheers,

Bill

I got one that asked me to type in the PIN of my debit card. I'm like, who would be stupid enough to do that?

Uh, me. Well, almost.

But now I are smart. :D

Cheers,

Bill

Credit Alert
 

My wallet was taken in NYC last year. Credit card, bank card, DL, Reg., Ins. for 3 cars were all in there. Since I was on the way to a job interview the previous day, my SS card was in there,too :eek: :eek: :eek:
Basically, they had everything needed aside from Mom's maiden name for identity theft.
Luckily, this happened at 7:10 in the AM and I had my cell phone. I immediately called home to my wife who had all our cards photocopied front and back and had everything cancelled. Everything was cancelled and 3 credit bureaus were alerted by 7:25 AM.
As a result, I have a credit alert on all my stuff. Nothing can really be processed unless my home is called first. This doesn't affect credit card purchases unless I'm someplace away from home. If I'm going away and will be using my credit card, I call the company to tell them where I'll be so there's not a denial of credit if I'm out of state.
The most difficult to replace was the Driver's License.
Check this out. 6 points ID NJ

I got one like that for Ebay... saying someone was attempting to use my credit card fraudulently......I needed to contact them before they closed my account.......

Even provided a link....yes right......since when do you pay ebay with a credit card?

Got two in fact ....one several days later saying I never responded before....with a link again.....

Only a fool would answer that and give away your ID info....Phishing if I ever saw it.

Laughing gravy, it's a great thing your wife did for you. I think I'll do the same.... Did you have any problem getting your license back? What did SS do? Issue another number or what?

Had to cancel my credit card. I had that number for 24 years.

Ebay was very gracious in understanding my situation and also very helpful getting me set back up to buy/sell.

BTW---No bogus charges had been placed on my card. Whew/that was close. Had webwench not posted that link, some crook would've gotten all kinds of stuff. You can imagine the huge limit on a card I've had 24 years.

Boneheaddoctor--Did you click on the link and look at the page I got? Very convincing but never again will I fall for that one. I'm a computer retard and didn't know any better.

Cheers,

Bill

No I didn't........the link you see is not always the link you get sent to. I knew that about Phishing...........But I can think the fooled a LOT of people...particularly with the follow up email. Since some hitting a questionible website CAN leave a trojon or a worm on your machine I chose to ignore it. IF they were that good they would do that very thing.

Well, I don't have any viruses yet. But you're right.

Click on the link that webwench left a few posts back and you will see the exact email I got. Looks authentic for sure and it just so happened that ebay had just notified me that my credit card had expired back in June and they needed me to update with a current expiration date. I did update, but did so by going to their site and not by email. So when I got the second email, seemingly from ebay, I responded.

Cheers,

Bill

Think about it......You Pay with Paypal, not Ebay. And Both of them tell you they will never ask for personal Info lie that. (yes I know Ebay ownes paypal)

Recently if I typed in hotmail.com rather than www.hotmail.com, I got a prompt saying "redirect in process" whch then asked for my email address and password.

I smelled a rat and typed the entire url and immediately got hotmail's hompage.

I think I saved myself a lot of trouble.

PS I just checked and the redirect is no longer there.

Yeah when you buy you pay with paypal.

But I also sell and my selling charges come off my credit card as well. It's the same CC # I use for paypal.

And, I don't think I saw anything before this happened saying ebay would not ask for info through email. Since this has happened I have seen that somewhere in ebays huge files of policy.

Thats why no alarms went off....


So far as the hotmail goes, That is my service as well and I haven't had that prompt appear, but thanks for the heads up.

Cheers,

Bill

Never sold on Ebay yet......but they have been telling users for well over a year about them never asking for log-in info, or personal stuff......because they already have it, why would they need to ask for it again.

I avoid links in emails from people who are not personal friends......and trash everything that appears to be spam directly.

And I got a pile of that as a result of the bigoted jerk who banned me under my old id..............Couldn't prove it , but I know he was responsible for it. Timing was too coincidental to be anything else.

HOW has ebay been telling their users? Like I said, I saw under policies or terms and conditions after the fact and not before.

True, Ebay already had it, but the day before ebay had informed me that my credit card had expired and I needed to update the expiration date. The next day I got the bogus email and figured it was just a followup.

Its amazing what people can do with a computer. I just can't fathom how someone can do such devious things when I have a difficult [at best] time just figuring out how to post pics.LOL....
:D

Cheers,

Bill

Well there were emails reminding users that they would not email their users asking for personal information. Do I remember the specific wording, NO, nor do I have any of them.....

There also was references to that on thier site under fraud reports.... I have filed 3 of those against sellers, only one of those three made any effort to resolve the problem.

Oh, I am very computer savy.......but I do know a few GURU types that make me look like someone who never even saw a PC before.

Some of these are becoming quite convincing. Not long ago, I got a very convincing email from someone pretending to be Citibank, and it was convincing enough (grammatically correct and carrying all the graphic elements of the Citi website) that my first impulse was to call up Citibank and ask them if they were crazy, sending requests for information like that via email. I can see how someone could be taken in by a well-done scam like this.

The key is, no matter what a site or vendor tells you, no legitimate vendor will ask you over email for your social security number, credit card numbers, or passwords. Only supply this information on the web if you initiated contact with the website and you are certain you are in fact dealing with who you think you are. If you're unsure, call or email the company directly and make sure.

Hmmmm...maybe my wife or one of the kids got that email and deleted without telling me. I know I never saw anything like that.

Webwench, after this occured you best believe I will intiate contact before disclosing any pertinent information.

Cheers,

Bill

To avoid any possible confusion for a newbie, I want to spell this out. Do not ever click on a link in an email that is asking you to update information. That link may take you to a legitimate looking web site run by the crook. If you think that account information might need to be updated, open a browser window and type the web address you know to be correct (or select from favorites).

I got one of these that I knew to be a fake, but it used a very real looking link and a very sneaky redirection technique to a site that looked EXACTLY like my internet provider's site. One has to be extremely careful with these things.

Come to think of it, I need to tell my neighbor about this, as she just got connected to the internet yesterday. Talk about a newbie!

The best rule of thumb is to never respond to anything initiated by another party who is asking you for personal info. Only give out info when you initiate the transaction yourself.

Very simple to remember, and very true.

Simple and true. I'm all about that.

Well, being a simpleton myself, thats the easiest thing for me to remember.

The email that intiated my first post was from[I thought] MSN and it did look real. Never would've been suspicious but they asked for my social security number. At that time, the alarm bells went off causing me to post my question. Had it not been for that, I would've filled it out and sent it off.

I guess I think everyone is honest. Bad habit. Thanks for everyones input.

Cheers,

Bill

Driver's License was a pain and a half. But, I got a new one.
SS administration...they just issued a new card to my home address with proof that it was stolen in the way of a police report. They say people lose these things all the time. Frightening. I cn't blame them for not issuing a new #,though. Imagine the chaos.

Chaos is the government. I can't imagine them issuing a new number but now somebody else has yours. What is to keep the thief from stealing your identity at this point? By now 10 other thieves could have your number!

Cheers,

Bill

Thats why every scrap of mail or trash with so much as a name on it goes into a cross-cut shredder. Same with old hard drives.

I did enough work recovering data from things like that and doing goverment declassifying of hardware to know how to be paranoid.

Man, I'm gettin' more and more paranoid. Here we are allowed to burn our trash so I might just start doing that!

Cheers,

Bill

Shred it AND burn it.....................And get a locking mailbox .

Thats not being paranoid.....its being prudent.

Good idea! BTW--Most of my mail I take to the post office. Our mail carrier doesn't arrive until 4 PM!

Cheers,

Bill

bump
 

Just came across this link on a blog I frequent. It's a 'phishing scam' IQ test. You look at samples of scam emails and real emails, and take a small test on which is which. Then your responses are scored, you're told which were frauds and which were legitimate, and you're given an explanation for each.

A nice idea, I think.