spoofs galore

[Rocky Raab]

Have gotten three more of them in the past few days, and they are getting harder and harder to tell from the real thing.

I automatically ignore emails from PayPal or eBay, although I will check my accounts there on a regular basis to make sure everything is still kosher (using my direct bookmarks, NEVER an embedded link).

I likewise ignore emails from anyplace where I do not have an account, such as "First Third National Bank" or any such.

But I also am getting suspicious emails from my cellphone service provider, credit card company and other places where I do have active accounts. If possible, I always check those out just in case. ALWAYS with my own bookmarks, again, and NEVER by clicking on a link.

While thinking about this, I had a thought. Most of the "phishing" schemes attempt to have you divulge secret information like username and password. Then they clean you out. If you DID choose to reply to one of those, would it be smart to reply with a FAKE password? If their reply is "The password is not valid" you'd have some indication that they do know your password. If they reply "You account is confirmed" then you know that THEY are fake.

Either way, you learned something with no risk except to confirm that you have a valid email addy - which will spawn lots more scam mail. Hmmmm... On second thought, that fake password idea isn't so smart.