Scam emails

[wiltsman]

I've just received the following email this morning. Initially, I was taken in as it appeared to be genuine, as it included the Windows Live logo, but you have to be your own detective when receiving this type of email. Looking closer, I'm sure Windows would not have sent out an email with two glaring spelling errors, excedeed and suspenion!

___________________________________
Dear Hotmail Customer (my email address was inserted here) ,

We are sending this e-mail to inform you that your e-mail account has excedeed it's sending and receiving limit in the last 7 days.
Due to this , we have to suspend your account in order to prevent unwanted bots and spyware using our customer's accounts.

In order to verify your account and lift the suspenion limit, please verify your account information on the link below:

( Obviously I've not included this link)

The limit applied on your account will be lifted as soon as you verify your account.

After verification , you may use your e-mail account as usual.

Microsoft Account Security Team.
___________________________________

Like anyone, I get stacks of these annoying messages, but I wonder, is there anyone who has never had one of these?

Only last week I had another one informing me that I had been invoiced £39.00 by Skype. Again there was a dodgy link supposedly to Skype if I had a problem!

[ChuckFickens]

Hover you mouse pointer over the link (don't click) and look in the bottom left of the screen and you'll be able to see where the link actually takes you (rather than what it says on the screen)...it should be fairly clear from that address if it's a scam or not.

It almost certainly is a scam though.

[bert_h]

As well as clarifying the supposed link, in the way ChuckF explains, you can discount any email that addresses you as "dear customer" or by a similar one-size-fits-all descriptor. If they don't know your real name, then they aren't who they say they are.

[ChuckFickens]

Also

"Initially, I was taken in as it appeared to be genuine, as it included the Windows Live logo"

It's really not hard for anyone to add any logo they want to an email, that is never a reliable way to tell if a mail is genuine.

http://www.google.co....2659&biw=1920&bih=955

[rhythmcrazy]

"please verify your account information"

As soon as anyone asks you this in an email, it's a scam. The scammers then use your info (such as passwords and log-in info) to hack into your account. It happens when scammers want to hack into your banking account too - just be alert. What ChuckFickens said in the very first reply is also true.

[wiltsman]

Thank you all for your feedback.

[gingejbee]

I've genuinely never had anything along these lines - and I don't get dubious telephone calls either!

[CharlesSLemley]

Yes, you have to be your own detective. I'm saying so because there are many companies who send fraud emails to various individuals and trap them by giving some bait. I have also received a spam mail some days back. One of my friends suggested me an email ready verifier tool. It greatly helped to check the authenticity of the email. You can also check any email's authenticity the same way. To know more, you can visit https://www.emailready.com/.