Recently reports have surfaced about a new scam involving Yahoo.  It starts when you receive an email purportedly from Yahoo that tell you that Yahoo has identified a breach of your email account and that someone has tried to get access to your account (which actually is true, except the truth is that it is the scammer who is sending you this message who is the culprit).  You are then told that access to your account has been blocked for your safety and that you need to confirm your identity by logging in.  However, although the message appears to be from Yahoo, it is not and if you log in you will provide your email information to someone who is then able to use your account to send out scam messages and identity theft threats that will most likely be trusted by your friends who receive the email because they appear to be coming from you.

TIPS

This scam is also used against users of other email providers such as AOL, Gmail and Hotmail.  Never trust such emails.  If you get such a message, first check the url from which it came to see if it even appears legitimate.  I have gotten some where the address from which the email is sent is not even close to the email of my email provider.  However, the url may appear legitimate, in which case you should call your email provider at a number you know is accurate to confirm or, most likely find out that the email was a scam.