Almost Got Phished
Sep. 15th, 2005 02:08 pmI'm one of those people who is suspicious by nature, and I often can't believe that people fall for some of the scams going on in the world, especially phone or internet scams.
Then I get up this morning and I have what appears to be an e-mail from Amazon saying that my bank is concerned that some recent purchases are not legitimate, and my account will be suspended in 72 hours if I don't log in and confirm some information with them. I've bought a lot of stuff recently, so aside from being concerned about what my bank might be doing, I didn't even think twice about clicking their link to add information. And in fact I might have gone all the way through with it if they hadn't asked for my PIN Number. I was thinking, I don't have a PIN number for my card, never have, and will it work if I leave that field blank? Meanwhile I was looking for my card to get the verification number off of the back, when it dawned on me that I was about to send all my vital information to some nameless thief.
I'd typed in most of the information already but hadn't clicked forward, so I just killed the window. But prior to that I had "signed in" to my Amazon account... so I quickly went to Amazon and changed my password. I *think* I managed to wake up just in time. But it's very worrisome that I could almost be fooled so easily. :p And I'm still nervous, trying to figure out what else I should do. I sent the offending e-mail to the appropriate Amazon anti-spoofing authorities. I know I have a different login for Paypal. I'm not sure where else I might have used that password, I tend to use the same ones a lot, but if all they have is my e-mail and password and it doesn't work for amazon or paypal I doubt they'll go looking for other places to try it out at.
Still... grrrr.
Then I get up this morning and I have what appears to be an e-mail from Amazon saying that my bank is concerned that some recent purchases are not legitimate, and my account will be suspended in 72 hours if I don't log in and confirm some information with them. I've bought a lot of stuff recently, so aside from being concerned about what my bank might be doing, I didn't even think twice about clicking their link to add information. And in fact I might have gone all the way through with it if they hadn't asked for my PIN Number. I was thinking, I don't have a PIN number for my card, never have, and will it work if I leave that field blank? Meanwhile I was looking for my card to get the verification number off of the back, when it dawned on me that I was about to send all my vital information to some nameless thief.
I'd typed in most of the information already but hadn't clicked forward, so I just killed the window. But prior to that I had "signed in" to my Amazon account... so I quickly went to Amazon and changed my password. I *think* I managed to wake up just in time. But it's very worrisome that I could almost be fooled so easily. :p And I'm still nervous, trying to figure out what else I should do. I sent the offending e-mail to the appropriate Amazon anti-spoofing authorities. I know I have a different login for Paypal. I'm not sure where else I might have used that password, I tend to use the same ones a lot, but if all they have is my e-mail and password and it doesn't work for amazon or paypal I doubt they'll go looking for other places to try it out at.
Still... grrrr.