NOTICE: Watch out for Email Spoofing (Discussion!-!)

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#1

If you get an email asking if you shop at amazon, ebay, or target. and asking you to buy digital gift cards which a spoofer can then resell online, it is from a hacked email account.

You need to verify by OTHER means that any such email is legitimate.

Watch out for clues like awkward language:
“it will be better” (vs. it’s better)
“provide you with prices” (vs. amounts)
“send me the report” (vs. send me a reply)

Do not even reply to it. It will track you and likely propagate to other contacts. It may then begin sending to your contacts and intercepting your emails.

If in doubt, reach out to the "sender’ by other means (e,g, the forum) and ask if they sent it.

In the meantime, change your email password, and enable 2-factor authenticatIon to protect your email, if possible.

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#2
#3

What if you did reply to it? How can you protect yourself from being tracked?

#4

I just got this ‘unusual’ (suspicious) email w/ subject: Discussion!!

Greetings from here,
I want to know if this email address is still valid to write to you.
There is something important I would like to discuss with you.
Thank you,
Joseph.

#5

That is the initial email that I got too.

#6

YES PLEASE AWARE THAT MY EMAIL WAS HACKED ON A SPOOFING HACK TRYING TO GET MONEY FROM ALL OF YOU… first of all, I would NEVER ask any of you for an e-gift card for anything. Some individuals were even told that I was looking for money to give to a friend for their birthday who has a colon cancer. I would never ask members of this website for money for something like that, so please follow Daniel’s advice above, and do NOT reply to that email…

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#7

I need people who see this forum post to do me a favor: can you try to email me, and then post here that you have? It looks as if I am not getting ANY emails, including those I send to myself.

#8

Check your email account settings, stealth-hackers will change your mail filter settings, they will link your email to other accounts or forward your email to other accounts, check for inconspicuous new folder names like a period (hard to notice) “.”
Even if you lose complete control of your account, hackers can continue to impersonate you!

#9

Folks it DOES appear that I’ve lost all control over my email…

#10

I just sent
subject: test test test

#11

Yes I received it… and I replied to your email. Could you email a reply to my reply???

#12

I just sent a reply to your test

#13

OK thank you Margaret I just replied to your reply.

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#14

Could someone else please email me to see if they are going through?

#15

I wasn’t able to log into the site for much of the day!! I was afraid it had got taken down. I realized how much I’d miss this place if it disappeared, and how I’d miss all the strangers I’ve never met, yet whose presence has come to matter to me.

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#16

I experienced the inability to access the Forum this morning about 7AM via my phone. The site came up but the drop down bars showed all the categories. However when I selected Form, nothing happened, it just stalled. Tried several times, same thing. After a few hours it worked.
Since retirement a few years ago I no longer monitor or use my email account except when a site needs an email address.

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