Email Scam Alert

With more people turning to online shopping, banking and other financial transactions, thieves that traditionally would be out stealing mail are finding themselves oftentimes empty handed due to more people avoiding doing financial transactions or business via mail. To adapt, cyberscams have begun to arise. The latest one goes something like this.

You receive an email from Amazon, Target, your bank, credit card company etc. stating that your account has been compromised and that you need to click a link to update your personal and financial information for your account to be reactivated, taken off a hold, information corrected etc. When you click the link, you will be redirected to another page to enter all your personal and financial information. Some links also self-install malware and trojans onto your computer which will give the scammer access to potentially everything on your computer including passwords and financial information.

The catch is that these emails while thinly disguised as being from the actual company or institution are actually just mass generated emails from scammers. While the name in the sender line may be legit, if you review the actual email address, you’ll notice that it goes something like amazon203234932e8g8g999s06554s@7768d8.com or other such nonsensical email address. As in the email notice shared in this post, the scam is so hastily and poorly put together that scammers often have the wrong company listed on the notice they send to you or other incorrect information or serious grammatical errors.

The bottom line….Do NOT click on the links and do NOT send any personal information to them via the form that the link redirects you to or via email. If you believe that it is fraudulent or questionable, contact the company directly via their legitimate phone number or email directly listed on their business site to inquire about the verification of the notice you received.