Beware “Phishing” Scams

Fraudsters are Out There, Angling for Your Private Information

We don’t want to cause a panic, but the fact is that bad guys who want your passwords are roaming the Net—and, they’ll grab your credit card and social security numbers, your home address, your date of birth and your mother’s maiden name, too, if they have the opportunity.

These days, “phishing” scams are commonly received in just about everybody’s email. Usually, the phonies look just like the emails from large companies that many of us already do business with, like Amazon, eBay and Yahoo!. They even have official-looking logos and language that sounds like a typical, legitimate email.

Fortunately, there are usually clues in these emails that should raise red flags as you read them.

How to Recognize a Scam Email
Phishing emails usually try to hook you with some official-sounding message about your account. A common subject line is “Please Verify Your…” Once you open the email, you’ll often see familiar corporate colors, branding, logos and language. Sometimes they will tell you that your account has been disabled for a bogus reason. At other times, they’ll offer a “free upgrade” to a new (and often non-existent) service.

Recent Phishing Attempt Aimed at Our Advertisers
Like all large Internet companies, Yahoo! is not immune to having its customers targeted by phishing expeditions. First, take a look at this email, which we sent this past Spring to our Local Sponsored Search advertisers, advising them of the upgrade of their accounts to the new “Panama” system:

With a few changes, a scam artist then turned the above into the email below and randomly sent it out to thousands of recipients:

Don’t Give Out Account or Personal Info to Anyone
The biggest clue in the fake email is that it asks for your username and password. Yahoo! will never send you an email asking for your password

Another way to help tell the faux from the friendly is by looking at the sender’s email address. Most of the official communications we send you will come from an address that looks like this: solutions(at)ysm.yahoo-email.com. If you get an email from a yahoo.com address asking you for info, it’s a good bet that it’s a fake.

If you think you’ve been “phished” for info, please let us know by emailing phishing(at)cc.yahoo-inc.com, or forward the email in question to that address.

To learn more about how you can keep from getting reeled in by “phishermen,” and how to guard against other Internet-based scams, visit these resources:

—The Team

Posted by Administrator

[ Categories: How (Not)-To's, Uncategorized ]

71 Comments Add your own

1. Hollywood Gossips | November 2nd, 2007 at 12:23 pm

but i dont think so, if any one is regular internet user its hard to cheat by such email as i have paypal account and i received such email but i know they are hacker so this will be very degerous to peopel who dont use internet frequently or who dont check URL of website before entering data
2. Jay (Conquering Adwords) | November 28th, 2007 at 4:58 pm

To the above, what you say is true but the hackers already know this and they are getting smarter.

Imagine the same email and they don’t change anything but the link…the anchor text stays the same and you get led to a phishing site when you think you’re on a yahoo official site. Sometimes even the most careful of people will get caught.

I know some myspace users who lost their accounts because they went looking for an innocent laugh…after the joke was over they get redirected to login…they should have thought to themselves that they were already logged in but hey I almost got caught too.
3. ksettles | December 20th, 2007 at 4:33 am

We received an email purporting to be from U.S. Bank telling us we needed to upgrade our account via a hyperlink in the email. We contacted the bank and sent them a copy of the email so they could check it out. They said they would not ask us to put any info by way of an email. That if we needed to change anything on our account we would be told to go into our secure account in the normal to update.
4. Yahoo! Search Marketing B&hellip | December 26th, 2007 at 1:13 pm

[...] and Part II). We’ve also offered tips on how to avoid taking the bait when lured by a “phishing” scam, how to use the handy Insert Keyword feature to help you improve your ad quality, [...]
5. Australian Online Adverti&hellip | January 9th, 2008 at 10:06 pm

[...] and Part II). We’ve also offered tips on how to avoid taking the bait when lured by a “phishing” scam, how to use the handy Insert Keyword feature to help you improve your ad quality, [...]
6. daniel bruch | January 15th, 2008 at 5:59 pm

I have just recieved an email from customerservice_data@yahoo.com

with subject:VERIFY YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT!!!!!
with following message:

Dear Account User,

This Email is from Yahoo! Customer Care and we are sending it to every Yahoo! Email User Accounts Owner for safety. we are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of Yahoo! accounts so we are shutting down some Yahoo! accounts and your account was among those to be deleted.We are sending you this email to so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account. If you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the space below. Your User name,Password,Date Of Birth (DOB) and your Country information would be needed to verify your account.

Due to the congestion in all Yahoo! users and removal of all unused Yahoo! Accounts, Yahoo! would be shutting down all unused Accounts, You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Information below after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

* User name: …………………………

* Password: …………………………..

* Date of Birth: ……………………….

* Country Or Territory: …………….

After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconveniences.

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after two weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

I just want to know if it has anything to do with Yahoo or not?
Dont want to give out information of my yahoo acount to wrong persons.

Best Regards
Daniel Bruch
7. Is Paul McCartney Dead? | March 11th, 2008 at 2:32 pm

Great information. With everything out there in the internet area, be on your guard.
8. yahoonot | March 27th, 2008 at 6:45 pm

this IS a phishing site
9. Kingstons | May 4th, 2008 at 11:34 pm

I know most of the regular internet users and masters do not even think to open these scams email but one very important factor or the other part which every Internet Marketing Person need to consider is the Account Sharing to there Boss or non technical person i.e. a Manager who need to check the weekly or monthly reports and he/she want a account Full access.
10. Internet Marketing Resources | October 23rd, 2008 at 1:28 pm

It is unfortunate that people like this are out there. And it is even more unfortunate for the people that they take advantage of.

Not only should you be on the look out for Phishing scams but pay attention the security of your PC. Be sure to have a good Firewall and antivirus.

Sean
Internet Marketing Resources | Internet Marketing Tools|Article Marketing Strategies
11. Tammy Powell | October 29th, 2008 at 8:13 pm

I’ve noticed a huge increase in the last few months in phishing emails (as if there could be an increase right!)…more so from scammers using official looking ebay emails.

Thanks for the post!
12. Snow White | October 30th, 2008 at 9:55 pm

Thanks a lot for great info. here.
13. Netflix Review | November 2nd, 2008 at 12:14 am

I hate these types of emails. I’ve had so many emails asking for my PayPal login information. Thanks for informing others so they won’t get scammed out of their money!
14. RObert | November 4th, 2008 at 4:29 pm

These are the worst, I agree. I learned a long time ago not to trust it.how about this?
15. Health Product Reports | November 7th, 2008 at 9:41 am

One particularly vulnerable group is seniors. Most are new to the net and very trusting. Be sure to warn any senior citizens you know about phishing scams.
16. Landing Page Checklist | November 9th, 2008 at 2:30 pm

I get these all the time for banking, ebay, shopping sites but they go into my spam folder asap.

I don’t want the internet to be policed too strongly as freedom of speech is of vital importance but these spammers are really pushing that day forward.
17. Dewey Kearney | November 13th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

Excellent advice. It seems that I average two to three of these a week anywhere from PayPal to Amazon and all points of the compass. I always report them to the real company so they are aware of what’s going on.
18. Bill | November 14th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

Phishing seems to have lost some of its allure. That’s a good thing. However, the phishing that I *DO* see is very good. You really have to scrutinize the email because the scammers use the same design elements. The easiest way to spot a phishing site, in my opinion, is to hover over hyperlinks. Generally, you’ll see the url and it may contain the domain name within the url, but it will often be a subdomain of somebody else’s site.
19. ryan connors | November 16th, 2008 at 11:27 pm

I have noticed ahuge increase in phishing emails. It is a big problem, you have to know what your looking for.
20. joomla | November 18th, 2008 at 4:17 pm

I have actually seen a decrease in the number of phishing scams in my email account this year related to paypal. Moneybookers has been really good as they contacted me to change my email address as an attempt was made to login.

Webmaster need to be careful since contact management systems especially with open source 3rd party extensions that are used for transactions online can be dangerous as more and more people become effective in understanding coding.
21. Free Website | November 22nd, 2008 at 12:01 pm

I have learned a lot about “Phishing” Scams here. Thank you!
22. Last Minute Chistmas Giver | November 23rd, 2008 at 4:54 am

I received a similar note from a Christmas gift shopping site a couple of times. They turned out to be real sites, but it is good to be cautious about all these scams.
23. Ed Hardy | November 29th, 2008 at 11:08 am

I got an obviously fake email for paypal the other day. What they will do sometimes is put a a legit subdomain on their fake domain. Ie paypal.thisissonotphishing.com.
24. butter | December 17th, 2008 at 7:48 am

regarding phisihing– i have 2 pproblems

1st– those mails that keep on popping
2nd=– some hackers– are insatlling phisihing sites on my blogs. how to over come ?
25. Mr. Foreclosure Help | December 19th, 2008 at 6:18 pm

It seems that phishing is here to stay. I still get them from “Africa”, “South America” and even the PayPal and Yahoo ones. We just need to keep educating everyone about how to handle these scamers (delete! delete! delete!)
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28. AJG | January 10th, 2009 at 10:53 am

I believe that a combination of the market awareness — as well as common sense — needs to be applied to thwart onslaught of phishing attempts and scams.

Like everyone else, I receive numerous such emails purporting to be from one legitimate instution or another (that is the “creme de la creme of scams) — others are simply absurd (i.e., Nigerian oil magnates seeking US partners, etc.) — and the key is to first examine contextually whether the email is “legitimate” in terms of your relationship with the sending party (i.e., I am NOT a customer of Citibank so any communication with them is unlikely) — as well as polish and professionalism associated with any suspicious email. Often there are poor reproductions of corporate logos, misspellings of words, and / or simply requests to do something which appear “unusual”.

With particular respect to PayPal — they specifically state that when in doubt, open another browser window and enter your account normally without clicking on any links to access the account.

Again, awareness and commonsense should be sufficient, although with continued sophistication of scam artists increase in vigilance is of necessity required.
29. Drax | January 15th, 2009 at 2:09 am

Wow, this is an eye poener I can tell you. Thanks for the info
30. Eric Carter | January 17th, 2009 at 9:38 pm

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31. hair | January 26th, 2009 at 11:26 am

Norton security suite works well to detect phishing scams.
32. Crayden interesting ebooks | February 10th, 2009 at 5:56 am

I find Windows Live is pretty good, better than Norton which always seems to have problems with certain programs. I agree with the comment that Phishing seems to be reducing.
33. Charm about Poland | February 27th, 2009 at 12:35 am

I agree with Crayden, OK people dont love Big M but Windows Live One Care is excellent and integrates perfectly. Its been out long enough now so any bugs are sorted.
34. Hack RM | March 13th, 2009 at 12:21 pm

Phishing is rapidly growing. Some company also supporting it and IMers are falling in trap of them to make some quick money. They steal emails from webpage and elsewhere by bot and sell those emails to some other IMers. Some inserts ad-ware with a popular software packaging those together. When you download and install it, first ad-ware installs and then the original software. There are thousand ways of phishing.
35. Sober Living | March 27th, 2009 at 5:28 pm

I have a lot of friends who this has happened to. It’s an awful thing.

Malibu Sober Living
36. gay riley | April 13th, 2009 at 7:34 am

I recieved this from an email and responded.
My cc was charged $500!
Dear Advertiser,

This is your official notification from Yahoo! Inc.
that the service(s) listed below will be deactivated and deleted if not renewed immediately.

As the Primary Contact, you must renew the service(s) listed below or it will be deactivated and deleted.

Renew Now your Yahoo Sponsored Search services:
http://sponsorebsearch.com/adui/signin/loadSignin.htm

SERVICE: Yahoo Sponsored Search
EXPIRATION: April, 11 2009

Thank you for using Yahoo Inc service.
We appreciate your business and the opportunity to
serve you.

Yahoo Inc. Sponsored Search Service
37. gay riley | April 13th, 2009 at 7:34 am

I recieved this from an email and responded.
My cc was charged $500!
Dear Advertiser,

This is your official notification from Yahoo! Inc.
that the service(s) listed below will be deactivated and deleted if not renewed immediately.

As the Primary Contact, you must renew the service(s) listed below or it will be deactivated and deleted.

Renew Now your Yahoo Sponsored Search services:
http://sponsorebsearch.com/adui/signin/loadSignin.htm

SERVICE: Yahoo Sponsored Search
EXPIRATION: April, 11 2009

Thank you for using Yahoo Inc service.
We appreciate your business and the opportunity to
serve you.

Yahoo Inc. Sponsored Search Service
38. Jo Sallu | May 16th, 2009 at 12:00 am

I think all you need is a little common sense and you won’t have any problems with phishing sites and emails.
39. counterservice | May 16th, 2009 at 7:15 am

Wow, Thanks for the infomation.
40. Meng@how to lower cholesterol | September 17th, 2009 at 8:18 am

@38

for us who surf the net alot, that’s an understatement. for folks who are new and only uses net for email purpose, the first few such email may post a thread
41. Ashley Wright | October 10th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

Good information if you do not know it, was just surfing the net and read the post very informative.
42. street lighting | October 16th, 2009 at 6:54 pm

this is good job!It was a very nice idea! Just wanna say thank you for the information you have shared. Just continue writing this kind of post. I will be your loyal reader. Thanks again.
43. Halo Reach Beta | October 22nd, 2009 at 3:26 am

Phishing is a major problem in today’s internet and will continue to get larger. As people get smarter toward phishing, phishers will get smarter. This is a problem that will potentially never end.
44. Website Design Corona | October 26th, 2009 at 2:32 am

The net has spawned its own set of criminals. There are enough scamsters on the net as there are in the real world. Exercise caution should be the watchword.
45. Aprowebcocc | November 4th, 2009 at 4:25 am

Everything depends on you. If you protect information about you all will be good. If not you have big problem! You must choose – you are inside web20 or not.
46. Public Divorce Records | November 11th, 2009 at 10:14 pm

I’ve been getting a ton of phishing type emails on my facebook acct. Is anyone else having this problem?
47. seo indonesia | November 14th, 2009 at 2:06 am

great information bout pishing here,.thx alo
48. bike-bmx | November 18th, 2009 at 11:35 pm

bike-bmx thank you very much for information
49. Andy | November 24th, 2009 at 11:48 pm

Having grown up with a computer since I’m 9 years old, that was 20 years ago a lot of this stuff seems very obvious to me. But I can understand that it could fool lots of people.
50. Online Share Trading India | November 28th, 2009 at 2:15 am

Vigilance is the key. You can risk disaster by being stupid. Be aware and be smart.
51. Private Foundations | November 29th, 2009 at 9:45 pm

Scams are the order of the day on the net as in the real world. Phishing is just another manifestation of the same.
52. Management Consulting Firm | December 2nd, 2009 at 2:58 am

Ben Franklin’s advice rings through to this day and age : “Distrust and caution are the parents of security”
53. Modern Carpet | December 13th, 2009 at 2:56 am

Phishing and the like are constant irritants one needs to be aware of and avoid like the plague.
54. Frenki | December 24th, 2009 at 6:12 am

Phishing? gone are the days when it cost so much to fear, but now it is very difficult to find somewhere.
55. Achtung | December 27th, 2009 at 9:52 pm

TY a lot!
56. Madmacs | December 27th, 2009 at 9:58 pm

THATS WHAT HE SAID!!
57. zack- technology gadgets today | January 27th, 2010 at 6:59 am

These day not only paypal being hacked YSM facing the same problem too.

On 22 Jan 2010 YSM email me mention that I’ve manually transfer 2,000USD from my credit card into my YSM. Honestly I never did the transfering job.

YSM support team said that they will fix the problems and refund my money back. I hope YSM will keep their promise and maintain the security of YSM user account.
58. cctv systems | February 6th, 2010 at 4:34 pm

We regularly get phishing emails, but generally their bad English gives them away.
59. Leon | February 6th, 2010 at 11:48 pm

I get these all the time for banking, ebay, shopping sites but they go into my spam folder asap.

I don’t want the internet to be policed too strongly as freedom of speech is of vital importance but these spammers are really pushing that day forward.

Centrino Notebooks Blog
60. Kitty Love | February 7th, 2010 at 1:07 am

Coming Soon, I will go to Great some information(http://www.9manson.com) and observation in the next month.
61. Paper Presentations | February 8th, 2010 at 11:24 am

good post..Keep going
62. Celebrity Outreach | February 9th, 2010 at 2:24 pm

Had to clear a server full of phishing sites. Its a real problem.
63. Dermajuv | February 11th, 2010 at 1:52 am

I have multiple emails account, and mostly those hosted on my server get spammed every day. It is really disturbing. Maybe there is a way to get your account cleaned?
64. Brent | February 12th, 2010 at 1:39 am

To avoid phishing scams just make sure you keep a good upto date email client.
65. typo3 templates | February 12th, 2010 at 3:53 am

we all is take care about out mail account. No one can know about it take care that. If some one know then use your account as a miscellaneous.
66. Jeff | February 14th, 2010 at 7:46 pm

facebook is still best places for phising, t think.
67. Viktor | February 14th, 2010 at 11:32 pm

Phishing is the best place for your own email address as the sender should be the most “undisclosed-recipients:;” “we will immediately delete.
68. treuemax | February 17th, 2010 at 11:31 pm

Nice tips for users. It will help us to stay away from scam.
69. Learn How | February 18th, 2010 at 6:18 pm

Nice tips thanks for sharing
70. Reg Cure | February 19th, 2010 at 5:35 am

Now a days there are so many scams on the internet that it is hard to determine what is the truth and what is a scam. I was going through the new where it displayed… Beware of IRS Scam…. Beware of mail account scams… and so on. It has become really very difficult to trust anyone.
71. Home Windmills | February 22nd, 2010 at 7:19 pm

Facebook has a lot of scam

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