Keep an eye out for fraudulent emails claiming that someone has shared a document with you. Sender names and other details may vary but here’s a screenshot of a typical example:
If you click on the document link, you will be taken to a phishing website that tries to nab your email account login credentials. The site features the OneDrive logo, although it has no connection to Microsoft. It claims that to read the promised document, you must choose your email service provider from a list:
After you choose your provider and “log in”, you will be automatically redirected to the provider’s home page.
Criminals can now harvest the information you entered on the fake login form and use it to hijack your email account. They can then use the account to send spam, scam, and malware emails with your name on them. If they can access the account’s linked services as well, they can make app store purchases, steal your stored files, and gather more of your personal information.
They can pretend to be you online and perhaps even steal your identity. They may also be able to hijack other online accounts you own by clicking the forgot password option, which often uses a password change email sent to your account.
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
