Tech scam: Please confirm your "reservation"

Monday, May 07, 2012

For too many unsuspecting email users, a message like this can be a round-trip ticket to nowhere:

Email and web scam artists entice members of the UW-Madison community to turn over online credentials: NetID, password, Social Security, and credit card information. This example is part of a series on the latest and best scams in circulation. Contact the Office of Campus Information Security via abuse@wisc.edu, if you think your account has been compromised, or you have inadvertently shared credentials with a fake source.

You might not even have a trip planned, but the urge can be too great. You have to know more, so you click the link to “check in” online. Pretty soon, you’re riding last-class, as the scammer starts to pilfer your personal information.

Don't be fooled by clever forgeries of airline email messages. Roll your cursor over the live link in the message and see what's displayed in the status bar at the bottom of your email window. It should be the URL of the airline. Even better, if you're traveling soon, go to the airline's web site for check-in information.

See more tips about phishing and email scams