The cyber vermin who are out to steal your money and your identity (and consequently your credit rating and maybe much else besides) are still at it. Basically the same tricks, but better presented.
Today’s warning is just a variation on previous scam examples I’ve given, the last of which I discussed in this article. However, I’m still getting support messages asking if such-and-such is legitimate.
Once again…
Neither Microsoft nor any legitimate financial institution
|will EVER ask you to click a link in an e-mail.
And secondly…
It’s very easy to see what the REAL link is,
as opposed to the APPARENT link.
Consider this fine example of the scammer’s art:
By hovering your mouse cursor over the APPARENT link you can (in most browsers and e-mail client programs) see a pop-up that reveals the TRUE link. In this example the relevant part of the true link is:
So what appears to be:
http://update.microsoft.com/etc.
Is in reality going to send you to:
http://update.microsoft.com.looolokr.co.uk/etc.
And looolokr.co.uk is NOT Microsoft.com!!!
You should know this stuff well enough that, having seen one or two examples, you will not be fooled by a variation just because it looks different or more convincing. In every case, in every e-mail…
IT’S THE REAL URL THAT MATTERS
Fail to realize that and you could very easily end up in serious legal and financial trouble. No kidding!
There’s a squillion of these Microsoft/Outlook/Outlook Express scams circulating at the moment, and I’ll bet they’re nailing thousands of gullible people all over the planet.
Don’t you be one of them.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Again, thanks for information like this Bill…
Once again Bill good job
but I had a quick look at your header for this blog
just an FYI your head is outlined in white
for professionalism use photoshop to blur the edge to the banner colour ie from you hair and skin tone to the banner colour
just simply looks better…. more polished
but meh its just my 2 cents
These scumbags are getting better and better at trying to fool us, which makes it really important to check the true identity of these ‘clickable’ links.
There are also lots of scam emails, supposedly from your bank, building society or credit card company, asking you to verify your account details. Remember! banks, building societies, credit card companies etc. will NEVER ask you to divulge, update or confirm any of your details by email…….. just delete the trash!
@Lance Jones
Always willing to accept constructive criticism Lance. The last thing I would ever describe for myself is the possession of any artistic talent. So far everything to do with this blog and the new membership site has been my own work, including all the graphics. I figure I should concentrate on content for now and get someone who knows what they’re about to attend to the “prettying up” when time and circumstance permit.
Photoshop is far too complex for my feeble brain; I use Xara Xtreme. but I can blur edges in Xara so I’ll have a play with it when I get a chance.
Thanks for the tip.