Cyber Crime - Identity Theft Via Your E-mail
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Everyone receives a ton of "spam" or soliticting emails these days and I for one have gotten pretty good at just deleting them without opening - until the other day. Being tax season, I received an email from what it appeared to be from the IRS stating I had a small refund due. The email had an IRS (logo) or what I thought was...the address ended in .gov and so on.
Before opening it, I asked an expert to find out that this is a seasonal scam and here is basically how it works. You click on a link and go to a site that states that to receive your refund, they require some information - some personal account information. When you give thme that info they are now set to manipulate those accounts or possibly use them to launder money electronically.
Of the hudnreds of thousands of emails they send out, I am sure a certain, even small percentage, get fooled and follow through.
The simplest suggestions are: always preview your emails before opening; if you dont know who it is from, in 90 % of the cases - delete. If it is important - they will make sure you are contacted and with a clear reason why; don't open the attachements or even click on their links. This may give them another way to use your email address or possibly even sell it to another spammer and on & on!
It is unfortunate that there are people that use this great technology for really bad intentions - don't help them. If unsure, stay to the side of caution.
