Image via Wikipedia

It never ceases to amaze me how many different ways people try to scam us!  The more it happens the more suspicious we all have to be of every email we receive.  That's bad because there are emails we get that may be questionable looking at first glance but in reality are very important.

There are some things you can do to protect yourself and not miss important messages.  Here's one example:

You get an email from your hosting provider with a subject title that insinuates it is an important message about your account.

The body of the email will say something about your email account or host account has been changed/updated/cancelled/locked/etc.  Then it will encourage you to click on a link for more information or to unlock your account or to enter a new password, etc.

It may look something like this:

Dear user of the xyz.com mailing service!

We are informing you that because of the security upgrade of the mailing service your mailbox ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) settings were changed. In order to apply the new set of settings click on the following link:

http://xyz.com/owa/service_directory/settings.php?email= This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it &from=xyz.com&fromname=you

Best regards, xyz.com Technical Support.

You'll notice that there are some words in there that are intended to gain your trust.  It may be your website name, your email address or the domain of your web host provider but there are also some clues that this is FAKE and an attempt to infect you with a virus or lure you to a phishing website. Here are some tips to help you protect yourself.

Here are 4 simple things to do when you get an email like this:

1. 1.  Whenever there is a link in an email you should be able to hover over it with your mouse, then look in the bottom left corner of your window and see what link displays.  Scam emails will often insert a link that LOOKS legit but isn't.  The first thing you should do when you see a link in an email is hover over it to make sure it is actually sending you to a trusted website.  Be careful because they will try to trick you by using trusted subdomains and tacking something else on.  For example, the link may look like www.ups.com in the email and when you hover over it the link displayed on the bottom left corner will look something like this:  www.ups.com.ausggg.com/ahsjsjsk/jaja/  You see the ups.com and think it is ok but it isn't!!  You notice the ausgg.com in there?? Scam.  Delete the email.
2. 2.  Pay attention to who signs the email.  Is it a name you recognize and trust?  If so, and you are still leary of it, contact that person and ask them if they sent the email to you.
3. 3.  Look at the email address the email came from.  Is it YOUR email address?  That is a common practice called spoofing.  Ditch it and move on.  It's a scam.
4. 4.  Are there unusual misspellings or grammar mistakes?  Ditch it.

Pay attention and never click a link you're the slightest bit unsure of.

If you run across a unique new scam and want to share it, feel free to send it to us and we'll share it right here in our Scam section!