If the email looks convincing enough that you actually click on the link it provides, take a look at the URL. If it isn't the correct one for the alleged site, it is a phishingThe act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information. scamA confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit; , so don't log in!

Thank you so much for this information, I get a lot of bad emails and still can't always tell. Also I ALWAYS click on the ''suppression list'' or ''remove'' me, but some continue to come...wish there was a way to report these...or a similar 'do not call list' for emails! I spend every morning clearing some out...All help is apprecited thanks again!

It's important to remember that no financial institution will email you and ask you to log into their site. If you are ever in doubt, type in the address yourself, do not follow the link in the email. Like the pp said, if you look at the address the link takes you to, it is not the real address (ie, it says it's paypal, but then in the address bar it's something totally different).

Also, watch for spelling and grammatical mistakes. Though the phishers are getting better, these are certain signs that the email you received is, in fact, a spoof.

You can go to the financial institution's site and report them there. I know many of them have a specific email to forward phishingThe act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information. mails to.

If it's a first from the company and has a clickable link , then the best approach is to either type the address in your browser or call them up to verify if it's from them. The phishingThe act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information. emails want to make you panic and act immediately.Don't act in haste. Take your time and make sure it's authentic before you take any action.You can report phishing emails at antiphishing.org .

Scammers are becoming really creative on their schemes because people are becoming aware of these kind of scams. Another method in order to know if its a phishingThe act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information. email is to check the sender.

I will never even look at an email, unless I am certain where it came from.

Banks and internet service providers will NEVER email you asking for your login and passwords, and I sure hope nobody is foolish enough to believe any of that garbage.

Despite seldom using email, my boxes frequently get filled to the brim with crap.

Yes, generally the spoof emails will be littered with grammatical and spelling errors-however this is something that many people may fail to pick up on. The average reading level in my town is just fifth grade-eleven to twelve years old, and so to many people the mails may look just fine.

It's the same for me ScamA confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit; destroyer. I used to receive many spam mails among which a ton were phishingThe act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information. emails and it was an absolute nightmare to search for the important ones. I have had to give up many of my email accounts for this. Gmail is better than most and filters out the spams better than the rest of web services , but many of those phishing emails dodge the spam filters and land in my inbox.

Thanks for this, I have to direct a friend her to read this. She just got swiped for a thousand dollars over Xmas break. Its must really take a bad person to scamA confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit; like this from so many, esp. during holiday times like this.