Outline:
Email purporting to be from the “AOL Mail Team” claims that your AOL mailbox has expired and, therefore, some incoming email has been “placed on pending” until you click a “validate” link.
Analysis:
The email is not from AOL and the claim that your mailbox has expired is a lie. The message is a phishing scam that is designed to steal your financial and personal information.
If you click the “validate” link, you will be taken to a fraudulent website that asks you to provide your AOL account username and password. Online criminals can collect the information you submit and then use it to hijack your AOL account. Once they have gained access to your account, they can use it to send spam and scam emails in your name as well as collect even more of your personal information.
Criminals have distributed many similar AOL scam messages in recent years. If you receive one, do not follow any links or open any attachments that it contains.
It is always safest to login to all of your online accounts by entering the address into your browser’s address bar or via a trusted app. You can report AOL scam emails via the reporting details on the AOL website.
Subject: Mailbox ExpiredAOl Mail
Hi AOL User,
Our record shows that your AOL Mailbox is Out-dated which has caused some incoming mails to be placed on pending.
Kindly VALIDATE your Mailbox in order to be able to receive new mails.
Best Regards,
The AOL Mail team
,
Last updated: December 1, 2016
First published: December 1, 2016
By Brett M. Christensen
About Hoax-Slayer
References
PHISHING – AOL Mail ‘Exceeded Storage Limit’ Email
AOL Update Billing Information Phishing Scam
Phishing Scams – Anti-Phishing Information
AOL Mail Security
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
