Apparently it’s that time of year – time for an uptick in scam emails appearing to be from big name companies we’re all familiar with.  See the example below of a PayPal scam.  It looks like they need some information from the email recipient, but a couple of quick actions will show you who is really after your information.

For starters we hit “Forward” on the email, quickly revealing that while it says it’s from “service@paypal.com” the actual sender is gwen@tr33.info.  You can get that info other ways as well; forward is just usually a quick, easy to remember way to get that information.

Next you see the box to click on to “Confirm My Address”, never click until you’ve determined the authenticity of the link.  Or better yet, never click it, just go to the website it claims to be from and inquire directly.  However to get more information do mouse over boxes like this.  This particular box, if clicked would direct the user to http://daniking.co.uk/images/ which would clearly have nothing to do with Paypal.

Chances are if you were to click on that link they’ve got some kind of Paypal looking mock-up on the page or it would be an instant invitation for a virus, malware, spyware etc to enter your computer.  So just don’t click it!

So next time you get an email that appears to be from a trusted company just needing a little info from you, take the steps necessary to protect yourself and your information!