Be Careful with e-mail Addy's
 

Be Careful with e-mail Addy's

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not to be the e-mail police, but I realized something on this forum that I think everyone should think about.

Tonight I received an e-mail that looked like it was from e-bay. It stated that my account was going to be closed, unless I "updated" my personal information. It asked for bank accounts, credit cards etc. I recognized it s a spoof right away.

Here on the forum we often post our e-mail addresses in threads, and that is prime for any unscrupulous person to take it and attempt identity theft with.

I knew it was a spoof e-mail right away. Because I do not use my regular e-mail account for e-bay, I use a hotmail account. When someone on the forum asks me questions, I will sometimes give them my regular account, but if you e-mail me from my profile it goes to a hotmail account.

Not preaching...(well maybe I am) but be careful out there, posting your e-mail on a thread is not the best idea IMHO.

Joe

I've received a handful of spoofs over the past year. After simply deleting the first one, I've learned to forward these messages to the company that is being mimicked. EBay, credit card companies, and others are interested in investigating spoofs, and most have e-mail addresses where you can forward the spoof. You simply access their web site - not through the links provided in the spoof, but by searching through Google or other secure means - and search for the address the companies provide where you can forward the spoof.

Granted, most of these spoofs originate off shore and policing them is not practical. But if it originated from inside the US, there is a good chance of catching the creeps.