Never click on the link of an unsolicited email. Almost every email/SMS scam contains a link they want you to click. If you are suspicious login to whatever system it is (Bank, Amazon, Paypal ...) and go check there for notifications and so on. In fact never clicking on a link in a email is generally good practice
The partial exception to this is if the link in an expected transaction/account verification/password reset etc. email. Even then if you set things up so that amazon emails, pay pal emails all have their own destination address (my.name+amazon@... my.name+paypal@...) which is unique to that service you can have a further level of security to confirm that it really is from the service itself. Even then you need to pay attention to the url to make sure it isn't amazon.com.secure.verify.somewhere.in.ru and not amazon.com before you click on it.
As the daughter and niece of 90 and 98 year olds, my battle with these charlatans is endless. Thank you for adding to my arsenal to keep my folks safe.
Irene - You (and everyone) overlook the core problem: Where is law enforcement? There is widespread lawlessness, targeting our most vulnerable citizens. All we do is share friendly advice. We should be demanding action from government (including regulation of the phone and email systems).
Never click on the link of an unsolicited email. Almost every email/SMS scam contains a link they want you to click. If you are suspicious login to whatever system it is (Bank, Amazon, Paypal ...) and go check there for notifications and so on. In fact never clicking on a link in a email is generally good practice
The partial exception to this is if the link in an expected transaction/account verification/password reset etc. email. Even then if you set things up so that amazon emails, pay pal emails all have their own destination address (my.name+amazon@... my.name+paypal@...) which is unique to that service you can have a further level of security to confirm that it really is from the service itself. Even then you need to pay attention to the url to make sure it isn't amazon.com.secure.verify.somewhere.in.ru and not amazon.com before you click on it.
Funny that you posted this today- I got a scam TEXT from KYRGHYZSTAN today notifying me my Amazon account had been locked and a link to 'fix' it...
As the daughter and niece of 90 and 98 year olds, my battle with these charlatans is endless. Thank you for adding to my arsenal to keep my folks safe.
Irene - You (and everyone) overlook the core problem: Where is law enforcement? There is widespread lawlessness, targeting our most vulnerable citizens. All we do is share friendly advice. We should be demanding action from government (including regulation of the phone and email systems).
That there are... dammit...