Scamicide
  • Scam of the Day
  • Coronavirus Scams
  • Speaker Request
  • Contact Us
  • About Steve
  • Scams
    • List of Scams
    • Scam of the Day
    • Trending Scams
    • Coronavirus Scams
    • FTC Scam Refunds
    • Identity Theft
  • Books
  • Videos
  • Reviews
Select Page
  • Home
  • About Steve
  • Scams
    • List of Scams
    • Scam of the Day
    • Trending Scams
    • Coronavirus Scams
    • FTC Scam Refunds
    • Identity Theft
  • Books
  • Videos
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Reviews

Scam of the day – May 15, 2013 – Latest aol email phishing scam

by Steven Weisman, Esq. | May 14, 2013 | Scam of the day, Site Related

Everyone uses email which is why emails from identity thieves posing as your email provider are a constant threat.  Below is a copy of an email that I recently received from an identity thief.  DO NOT CLICK ON ANY OF THE LINKS.  This phony email follows a familiar pattern.  It indicates that there is an emergency that requires my immediate action.  The emergency may relate to an unpaid bill or a security problem or as indicated in the phony email below, a termination that I did not request.  The identity thief counts on the victim to react emotionally and immediately click on the links provided.  If you do click on the links one of two things can occur and both of them are bad.  The first is that you are asked for information such as your email address, credit card number or other personal information that is then used to make you a victim of identity theft.  This is called “phishing” when you are lured to a phony website that gathers information from you.   The second thing that can happen is even more insidious.  By clicking on the link, you may unwittingly download a keystroke logging malware program that will steal all of the information from your computer including your Social Security number, password, credit card numbers and banking information.  The identity thief will then use this information to make you  a victim of identity theft.

Here is a copy of the phony email I received.

“Scheduled Maintenance
Dear AOL Customer,

You submitted a request to terminate your AOL Mail Account and the process has started by our AOL Mail Team, Please give us 3 working days to close your AOL Mail Account.

To cancel the termination request click http://cancel.mail.aol.com/neo/cancel?

All folders contains on your AOL Mail Account including (Inbox, Sent, Spam, Trash, Draft, Folders) will be deleted and access to your AOL Mail Account will be Denied.

If you wish to terminate your present AOL Mail Account, you can Sign Up for a new AOL Mail Account by clicking. http://edit.aol.com/registration?

For further help please contact support

Regards,

AOL Mail Account Services
_________________________________________________________________
Please do not reply to this message. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered”
TIPS
When AOL communicates with its customers about their accounts, they do so by AOL Certified Mail, which will appear as a blue envelope in your inbox and will have an official AOL Mail seal on the border of the email.  This particular email had neither and didn’t even have an AOL logo appear on the email.  Whenever you get an email, you cannot be sure of from whom it really comes.  Never click on a link unless you are absolutely sure that it is legitimate.  The better course of action is to contact the real organization that the email purports to be from at an address or phone number that you know is accurate in order to find out if the communication was legitimate or not.  Additionally, it is important to always keep your Firewall and security software up to date to help protect you from the latest viruses and malware although, as I have reminded you many times, security software will only protect you about 5% of the time from the newest viruses and malware.  It usually takes the security software companies about a month to catch up with security patches and updates to the latest threats so don’t depend on your security software to provide you with total protection.

Search Scams

  • Categories

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • September 2011

SIGN UP FOR OUR BLOG

Join 4,217 other subscribers
Copyright ©2019 Scamicide. All Rights Reserved.