According to this email, if you do not verify your email account within 24 hours, it will be assumed that you are a fraudulent user and your email account will be shut down. But, supposedly, all you need to do is click the “verify” button to deal with the issue.
However, the email is not from any legitimate email service provider. Instead, it is an attempt to trick you into giving your email account password to cybercriminals. If you click the “verify” link, you will be taken to a website that asks you to provide your email account password. If you provide the password as requested, a fake verification scan will appear to run in your browser.
After the “scan” finishes, a notice will inform you that the verification process has been successful and your email address will no longer be considered fraudulent.
Finally, you will be redirected to a Google search page.
Meanwhile, the scammers can collect your email address and password and use these credentials to hijack your real email account. Once they have gained access, they can use the compromised account to send out more scam and spam emails that appear to have been sent by you.
Crude email phishing attempts like this one are very common. Sadly however, less computer savvy users still fall for them. If you receive such an email, don’t click any links or open any attachments that come with the message. And, remember, you can help thwart scammers like this by making sure your friends and family know how scams like this one operate.
EXAMPLE:
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
