Email scams

There is a lot of malware out there so it is very important to keep your computer updated and your anti-virus and anti-malware programs updated.  Then on top of that you may be deluged with information about malware which is a hoax.  I received an email last week warning me about a very bad malware out there which is an invitation to open an online greeting card.  It said this is a brand new problem and if I open a bad card I could have my entire hard drive wiped out.  Thanks for the warning, but it is not true.  Several years ago there was a bad malware sent out that way which did a lot of damage.  Whenever you receive any email which has an attachment, look at it carefully before opening the attachment.  If it is from someone you know, are they greeting you by name?  If it is something from your bank it should not say "Dear customer" but should have your name.  Let your mouse hover over the link before you click on it.  If you have an up to date browser (see the first sentence) it will show you the address the link will take you to.  If it does not agree with the stated address, it is probably a link to a malware site.  Delete the email rather than clicking on the link.  Here is a link I received.

I knew it was false from the start since I do not have an account with Wells Fargo.  Then looking where the link would take me, I knew to delete the message.  But I do business with eBay so I looked at this email more carefully.

That link will not take me to ebay, so I knew it is false.  And since I did not buy anything from Damon Meadows and would never order something shipped to San Paolo WY with a west coast zip code I knew it is false.  The sender knew I would not recognize this and hoped I would fall for the scam and go to their site to let eBay know I did not make this purchase and they would get my eBay login and password information.  So when opening emails and following links, be careful and use common sense plus up to date browsers and you should be safe.