I have three email addresses. There’s the one attached to this page; the one that Bethany University assigned me so I can be contacted through their FirstClass network, and the private Hotmail account that I really only use for family. I used to only check the Hotmail account because of the incredible amount of spam on the FirstClass network (and the rant about that is here) but now I have everything filter to the same box. It manages to get pretty full over the course of a day.
Anyway, I got an email from Amazon saying that someone had been poking around inside my account, so would I please sign on to their server and verify some information. And since I had bought a CD on Amazon while I was using wifi in a coffeehouse, the paranoid side of my brain kicked in and said, “Maybe someone hacked into your signal,” so I clicked on the hyperlink in the mail and went to Amazon’s website.
“Need password.” Okay, I typed in my password.
“Need credit card information.” …Wait a minute. They have that information already; they don’t need it again. And usually when a website needs my credit card information, there’s a little padlock icon in the upper right corner of my browser. (I use Safari.) There’s no little padlock. And what’s with this Amazon tab at the top of the page that reads, “Maureen’s Wish List”?
Fortunately the paranoid side of my brain works both ways. I hopped off the site, went immediately to Amazon, and changed my password. Then I emailed their security office and forwarded the email.
Today they emailed back. Yes, it was a scam. It looked like an Amazon page; the
So Amazon thanked me for the tip. (They could have thanked me with a gift certificate, but oh well.) And they reminded me that Amazon won’t ever send emails asking for credit card information. Which I knew already; that’s what tipped me off. Now, as to what they’ll do about the scam artist, I’m not sure… hopefully something involving a taser to the genitals, but that’s just wishful thinking.