How to Tell Fake Phishing E-Mails from Real Ones

There is a very easy way to tell a fake phishing e-mail from a real one.

One immediate clue is to receive it from a bank where you have no account. That one is obvious (you would think) but still you'd be amazed how many people take such mails seriously despite the fact that they know they don't have an account at the said institution.

More importantly:

Such e-mails ALWAYS include a web URL link that they want you to click and visit to "update your critical security information" etc.

BEFORE clicking it, HOVER your cursor on the link and then look at the STATUS BAR at the bottom of your browser window to see the REAL ADDRESS that the link is pointing to.

If that address has nothing to do with the real-looking URL in the letter, then you can rest assured that you are the target of a phishing expedition that could drain your bank account before you know what.

Most of the time, such real addresses will have foreign country suffixes at the end since they are usually sent by scam artists from other countries. That would be a dead giveaway as well.

Remember: the e-mail address from where the e-mail seems to be originating from means NOTHING since it can easily be faked. Once I even received a scam mail from MY OWN E-MAIL ADDRESS! Wow... the scam operators really went overboard with that one without being aware of it.

The URL typed inside the body of the mail also means nothing because it is just plain text.

But the real web address to which that text is linked - that cannot be faked that easily.

Just hover your cursor over any link that you suspect and find out the real address the link is pointing at. That can save you a lot of unnecessary headache.

Bad English (or “Scamglish”) Gives Away E-Mail Scams

I’ve yet received another “Lottery Winning Notification” – this time from Microsoft (!). Ho ho ho!

There are two items that give away these scams immediately:

1) The domain name of the return link is invariably registered in some foreign country (Hong Kong, Slovenia, Russia, UK, Netherlands, Japan, etc.) but never in the United States. Just check out the last two letters of the domain name and consult the following country list: http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/domains.html

2) Bad English is the second giveaway since these messages are copied and pasted many times over, sometimes by scam artists who do not even know any English! And the results show...

Here are some sentences written in Scamglish, quoted from the “Microsoft lottery” letter that I’ve mentioned:

“…the Lucky numbers 14-21-25-39-40-47(20) which subsequently won you 1,000, 000.00 (One Million Great Britain Pounds) DATE: 9/APRIL/2007 DRAW NUM: 1 It was held in London (UK) the claims agent assigned to you to, for the Release of your prize…”

“…a wide range of web hosts which we Enjoy their patronage…”

We are all lucky that, even though the bad guys are smart enough to come up with these schemes, they are never smart enough to proofread and edit their English copy.

Caution -- Flash Drive Sticks

Flash drive sticks are great. They provide a lightweight solution to memory problems. I have one myself that I carry with me wherever I go.

But are you aware that the same innocent looking flash stick can actually be a Trojan Horse, carrying someone else's malicious code or virus?

How come? In essence, once you insert it into your USB port, every flash drive becomes a mini hard-drive. If all you have on it is a bunch of files and images that yourself have saved, then there might not be a problem.

But be careful every time someone hands you a flash drive! If there is a malicious executible file on the stick, it could automatically start to execute it the minute it is connected to your computer.

MS Word files fall in the same category. Be very careful about opening the MS Word files on a flash memory stick which is handed to you by others because Word is an excellent vehicle for all kinds of destructive macros. Once you open the Word file, macros execute and do whatever what they were designed to do.

Did you know that any high school student can write a 5 to 10 line Word macro that would wipe away ALL the files on your machine when the Word document is opened?!

Use and enjoy your flash drive stick but also keep in mind that sharing it with others is probably not a bright idea in this day and age of hacking frenzy.

(PHOTO CREDIT: Published under GNU Free Documentation License. Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Flash_drive_usb_memory.jpg)