What is a spoof email?
Spoof emails (sometimes also called "Phishing")
are emails that pretend to be from a company or bank. The most common
often come from eBay, PayPal, Barclays Bank etc. These emails will then
contain a web link, if you click on this link then you will be taken to
a login page and asked to enter your details. Most of these scammers go
a long way to try and get your details, most spoof emails contain links
to identical websites and users are tricked into entering their personal
information. If you submit your information through one of these spoof
websites then the fraudster has all of your details and can commit
crimes using your identity.
How do they get my email address?
You may wonder how the scammers got your address or knew you were a
member of a particular bank or institution. Often it is just good luck
on the part of the scammers. They normally do not target individuals,
but send out thousands of scam emails to randomly generated email
addresses, in the hope that just a few will be successful. They also
trawl the web for valid addresses they can use, and swap this
information with each other. If you have ever posted on an Internet
forum or published something on the web, there's a good chance your
address is out there somewhere just waiting to be found. If you have
fallen victim before, your address is normally added to a list of 'easy
victims', and you are likely to then receive even more scams.
How can I identify these emails?
Here are 4 simple tests that you can perform on any email you suspect
is a spoof. Your email can only pass the test if it passes ALL FOUR of
the tests. If your email passes all of the four tests then you can be
99.9% certain that it is a genuine email. If your email passes all four
of the tests then we would also advise you to check the "Other Tips"
section just to double check that your email is genuine.
If your email fails
If your email fails JUST ONE of the four tests then the email is a
spoof and shouldn't be replied to and should be deleted immediately from
your computer. Even if your email fails the test, I would still advise
you to check out the "Other Tips" page for more good ways to spot a
spoof email.
If you are still in doubt
Unless you are 100% sure that your email is genuine, DO NOT click on
any links within the email. Contact the company in question and ask them
to confirm if the email is genuine or a spoof.
Test 1 - Who is the email addressed to?
Have a look at how the email addresses you. Most spoofs will say
something along the lines of "Dear eBay user". This is the very first
thing you should look for in a spoof email. Any email that doesn't
address you by your name is a spoof. Ebay, PayPal and banks always
address you by the name you registered with on their site, they NEVER
send out emails saying
"Dear valued customer", "Dear member" etc.
If your email isn't addressed to you personally then it is a spoof!
If your email is addressed to you then move onto the next test to see if
it is a spoof email. Some more advanced spoof messages have started to
include your name or email address instead of the generic "Dear member"
or "Dear user". So even if your email were addressed to you I would
strongly advise you to carry out the 3 other tests.
Test 2 - Where does the link go?
Most spoof emails will contain a link telling you to verify your
details. You can quickly tell if your email is a spoof by hovering your
mouse over the link. When your mouse is over the link, look in the
bottom left hand corner of your screen and you will see the "link
destination". The destination of a spoof link will usually look
something like this:
"http://slp.clinker.net.mx/.sh/.a/index.htm?SignIn&ssPageName=h:h:sin:us"
Compare this with a real eBay link:
http://k2b-bulk.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MyeBaySellingSummary
And you can see the difference. You can easily check if you email is
a fake by looking at the first part of the link destination, if the
destination is a combination of numbers (102.382.54.23) or a link like
the one in my spoof link above then the chances are that your email is a
spoof.
Any non-spoof link will contain the name of the company in the first
part of the link, eg:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk http://cgi.ebay.com http://cgi.paypal.com
Please note: Some spoof links will contain the words "eBay" or "PayPal"
in the final part of the link. These are also spoofs!
All real emails will only contain the company name in the very first
part of the link; after http://. If you still aren't sure if you have a
spoof email, move onto the next test.
Test 3 - Who really did send you the email?
This test may seem a little confusing but don't worry it isn't as
difficult as it looks. What we are going to do is find out where the
email came from. Most people don't know this but you can trace the
origin of your emails in most mail programs. To do this we have to view
the "FULL message header", here is how you do this in the following
email programs. If your program isn't listed here please contact your
email provider for instructions:
Hotmail 1. Click on "Options" 2. Click on "Mail display settings" 3.
The 3rd option can be used to display the header settings, select "Full"
from the check boxes 4. Click on "OK" to save your settings
Outlook Express 1. Right click on the email and select "Properties"
2. Select the "Details" tab
Now that we can view the message headers, here is how you identify a
spoof:
Look in the part of the header that says "Received From". If the
email has come from anyone other than the sender it's a spoof. I had a
spoof email and performed this test and notice that the email had been
sent from a Yahoo account. Obviously a real email from eBay would not
have been sent from a Yahoo address!
Test 4 - Click on the link
Only try this if your email has passed the previous 3 tests. Some
spoof emails have been known to contain viruses that are activated by
clicking on the link. Please ensure that you have a good virus scanner
installed on your PC before proceeding. If you have important data on
your PC you may also wish to backup that data on a removable backup
device.
When you click the link in your email a web browser will open and
take you to what looks like a legitimate login page. There are two ways
to identify a spoof login page, and I will show you both of them! Have a
look in the address bar at the top of the login page. Have a look at the
http:// part of the URL. Any genuine login page from eBay, PayPal or
your bank WONT start with "http://" it will start with:
"https://"
The "s" in https:// stands for "secure" and is there to show you that
you are about to submit data over a secure connection.
Any page not starting with https:// is a spoof. The second difference
between the two pages is the padlock icon in the bottom right hand of
the screen. Notice that the spoof login page doesn't have a padlock, and
the genuine eBay login page does. This padlock appears to show you that
you are about to submit data over a secure connection. If your login
page DOESNT have a padlock icon in the bottom corner of the screen then
it is a spoof!
Other Tips for spotting Spoofs
1. Punctuation Read your email carefully and look for any spelling
mistakes. You can be sure that any genuine emails wont contain simple
spelling mistakes.
2. Adverts? Real emails from eBay don't contain adverts for burger
king!
3. Hotmail identity check A new feature in hotmail now warns you if a
senderID could not be verified. Any spoof email will contain this
warning. (please note that recently I received a genuine email from eBay
that contained this warning, so don't judge an email purely by this
method)
4. PIN number Any website asking for your PIN (personal
identification number) is a spoof. Do not enter your PIN number! If you
have entered and submitted your PIN then contact your bank immediately.
5. Popup boxes Some spoof sites will include popup message boxes like
the one below. Genuine sites don't use popup boxes telling you to enter
details.
6. False sense of urgency Most spoof emails will make you think that
your account is at threat if you don't act quickly. This is not the
case.
7. eBay Messages Any genuine email sent to you from eBay will also
appear in the "My Messages" section of eBay. To access your eBay
messages, login to ebay and click on "My eBay". On the left hand side of
the screen you will see a "My Messages" link. Click on this; if the
email you received in your inbox isn't listed there then it is a spoof
email.
8. Ignore the email address Ignore the email address that the email
was sent from. Almost all spoof emails will appear as if they are from a
genuine address. Some of the emails I receive are "from":
service@paypal.com memberservices@paypal.com awconfirm@ebay.com
safeharbour@ebay.com operator_862736743@halifax.com
9. Download the eBay toolbar The eBay toolbar is a great piece of
software that can be used to spot spoofs. As soon as you enter a spoof
website from eBay or PayPal the toolbar will give you a warning telling
you that web page is a spoof. The Ebay toolbar is FREE to download.
