Right now, AOL email users need to watch for fake “Assistant Message” emails purporting to be from AOL help. The emails cite a supposed account problem and suggest that you access more information by following a link to the AOL Help website.
However, the emails are not from AOL. Instead, they are phishing scams designed to harvest your personal and financial information.
If you follow the link as instructed, you will be taken to a fraudulent website that hosts a fake AOL sign in form.
Next, you will be taken to a fake AOL “Manage My Account” form that asks for your credit card details as well as your social security number, your date of birth, and your name and contact information.
After you hit the “Update” button on the fake form, you’ll see a new web page that claims that something went wrong and your login was unsuccessful. You’ll then be instructed to click a link to “try again”. The link redirects you to the genuine AOL website.
Meanwhile, however, the criminals operating the scam can collect the information you supplied and use it to hijack your AOL account, make purchases with your credit card, and, possibly, steal your identity as well.
If one of these phishing scam emails come your way, do not follow any links or open any attachments that it contains.
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
