Be Leery of Links in E-mail

One of the most common ways to get intrusive files, spyware, adware, worms or cookies on your computer is clicking on links in e-mails that take you where you didn’t know you were going. These e-mails are usually spam or are spoofing that the e-mail is from your financial institution or a site you frequent such as eBaY or PayPal. The senders of these type of e-mails are very sneaky while some are blatantly obvious.

To be safe, never click on a link that is all numbers no matter how good the offer or noble the cause may seem. A Web site address that is all numbers is just an IP address. E-mails only noting IP addresses are not to be trusted! Why wouldn’t the sender spend the ten bucks to have a domain name? Because they don’t want risk being traced, that’s why!

With these sneaky e-mails you will see words to click on like “Click here….” or some e-mails have domain names as the visible text over the IP number to click on so it seems it is a site familiar to you. Careful here!

Always put your mouse over the link first (don’t click) to see what displays in the underlying code as the real site where you would be directed to. You’ll see the underlying Web site address in your e-mail program or browser’s location bar at the bottom of the screen. Many times this is a bait-n-switch situation where you see a warm fuzzy domain name to click on while the underlying code will take you to locations unknown.

Before clicking on any e-mail links:

• Never click on links within in an e-mail unless you know the person who is sending you that link and are 100% confident the link is what it says it is. Be just as cautious with forwards from irresponsible forwarders that you do know as well as they unknowingly perpetrate scams in their zeal to forward.
• Unless you recognize the link as a reply to a specific request for information (Web site request, newsletter, ezine, etc.), only click with caution.
• Do not click on IP numbers in e-mail.
• Do not click on URLs from those who you are not absolutely positive are the sites you can trust — even if they say they are.
• Always mouse-over a link in an e-mail to see if the underlying URL matches the clickable text.

Just a little thought before clicking on embedded e-mail links can save you a bunch of unnecessary trouble and headaches!

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