Today’s scam of the day is one that is a commonly occurring scam, however, this one, which comes from my own email box shows how real these scams can appear.  Below is a copy of the exact message with Chase logo that appeared today in an email sent to me.  Even the address from which it came appeared to be legitimate.  It is easy to react too quickly and click on the link as requested, but you should not do so under any circumstances.  This type of scam is called “phishing” and it occurs when you are lured by a counterfeit communication to click on to another site where two things can happen and both of them are bad.  The first is that by clicking on the link you are actually downloading keystroke logging malware that will steal all of your personal information from your computer and make you a victim of identity theft.  The other thing that can happen is that you are taken to a website that appears legitimate even though it is not.  There you are required to provide personal information that is used to make you a victim of identity theft.

TIP

Never click on links in emails unless you are absolutely sure that it is legitimate.  Unfortunately, whenever you get an email, you cannot be sure as to who actually sent the email.  Sometimes it is obvious that it is a phishing scam as where the address of the sender has no relation to the institution that the email purports to be from, but other times, the email address may look legitimate as was the case with this email.  Your best course of action when receiving an email such as this is to call the  real company, in this case Chase directly at a telephone number that you know is accurate in order to confirm whether or not the communication is legitimate.

Here is a copy of the email I received.  Again, DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK.