Gone Phishing: Beware of Common Email Phishing Attacks

I was home and my wife called me in a panic, as she just received this email indicating a recent transaction at Kmart for Windows 8. This prompted me to check the email and it was textbook SPAM as the sender’s email address had a Russian extension (.RU) and it had numerous phishing links to bogus URLs, none of which tied to PayPal. To be honest with you, I don’t even use PayPal, so it was not a challenge to flag this as SPAM.

It was also a reminder that viruses and phishing scams continue to plague users around the globe. As a rule of thumb, always question these emails and NEVER click on a link or give any personal information. Some other traits of phishing emails include the lack of detailed information and grammatical errors. Even the generic salutation with this one was a red flag. If you see this email, delete it immediately as you don’t want to be a victim to this phishing frenzy.

A good resource for current SPAM scams is http://www.onguardonline.gov/articles/0002-common-online-scams Be careful out there!!