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My.com scam? (urgent reply needed?)
#33487 03/19/15 10:12 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
deniro Offline OP
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Mom told me she was getting several emails from a site called mylife.com. This was through the latest version of Firefox at her account at gmail.com

She doesn't belong to the site. I'm nearly certain she doesn't belong to any social sites, excerpt perhaps for Pinterest because under "Social" in Gmail there are also emails about pins from my sister which would be legitimate.

The emails from mylife.com, also under the "Social" tab, go back to Dec 2014, then increase dramatically in Jan and Feb 2015. I wish she had told me that sooner. The email subject headings say things like "Protect Your Exposed Info Including xxx-xxxxz" and lists her real phone number. Also: "Anthem Insurance Breached--Your data exposed" "New Identity Update Available" and "Remove Private info."

Clicking on the link takes you to mylife.com, which of course asks you to "re-enter your name and password" in order to increase your security and protect your data.

I'm certainly not going to give them any information. Does anyone have any ideas about what to do?

I found the following links. Note the dates.

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/mylife.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/mylifecom-people-search-website-sued-scam/story?id=14335481

http://www.brighthub.com/internet/security-privacy/articles/110978.aspx

Addendum: Last month Mom had fake charges on her credit card. I don't know if that's related.

Last edited by deniro; 03/19/15 10:14 PM.
Re: My.com scam? (urgent reply needed?)
deniro #33488 03/19/15 11:00 PM
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The bad guys are getting better and better. Yesterday my wife got an email with an attachment apparently from a very reputable company we have done business before that appeared to reference our previous business. Being a suspicious type, she called the local representative of the company who said, "We just got a warning from the national office about that. Right after we attempted to open the attachment thinking it was for us. Hope you don't have Windows."

The email was very simple — just a request to verify the information in the attachment about their previous service. The companies services are specialized and not often used by the general public, so their targeting is apparently either very sophisticated or they have hacked into the companies records.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: My.com scam? (urgent reply needed?)
deniro #33505 03/21/15 01:54 PM
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I adopted the simple reason that if I do not recognize the subject or sender, or have the slightest doubt about the motive, I bounce them. If there is some official looking company/address mentioned, just google it and check them out. I think curiosity is the reason many recipients open phoney emails...alas too late.
FWIW jaybass


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Re: My.com scam? (urgent reply needed?)
deniro #33506 03/21/15 02:17 PM
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Well, the company claims to be legit, and most (all?) legit organizations have an "Unsubscribe" (from these e-mails) link at the bottom of their e-mails.

If your mom's e-mails have such a link, try clicking on one, but note that if it's legit, it will tell you the address you're unsubscribing and NOT ask you to enter any info.

Hope this helps.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: My.com scam? (urgent reply needed?)
artie505 #33510 03/21/15 04:22 PM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
Well, the company claims to be legit, and most (all?) legit organizations have an "Unsubscribe" (from these e-mails) link at the bottom of their e-mails.
If your mom's e-mails have such a link, try clicking on one, but note that if it's legit, it will tell you the address you're unsubscribing and NOT ask you to enter any info.

The only problem with "unsubscribing" from a bogus/malicious site is that by clicking on the Unsubscribe button/link you notify the sender that the email address is live. Expect even more spam, phishing forays, etc.

Re: My.com scam? (urgent reply needed?)
grelber #33512 03/21/15 07:19 PM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
The only problem with "unsubscribing" from a bogus/malicious site is that by clicking on the Unsubscribe button/link you notify the sender that the email address is live. Expect even more spam, phishing forays, etc.

I know that was a recommendation several years ago, but I am not sure it is still true today. Modern spammers send out literally millions of messages and with their volume it really isn't worth the time and effort to determine if an address is still current. If they want validated addresses many legitimate merchants are more than willing to sell their mailing lists at unbelievably low prices. They will even sort the lists by criteria specified by the purchaser.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: My.com scam? (urgent reply needed?)
joemikeb #33515 03/21/15 11:14 PM
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Maybe yes, maybe no.

My professional account is constantly bombarded with spam, all of which emanates from the same source under guise of separate entities. All the spam comes with Unsubscribe links which just verify my existence if responded to.

A number of similar sites have "do not reply" return addresses, no Unsubscribe link, only an Unsubscribe button which is most certain to put unwanted crap on one's computer or request privileged information.

Re: My.com scam? (urgent reply needed?)
deniro #33516 03/22/15 07:35 AM
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Originally Posted By: deniro
Mom told me she was getting several emails from a site called mylife.com. This was through the latest version of Firefox at her account at gmail.com

I don't know anything about gmail. Does it have anyway of setting up rules about which messages get through and which do not? If they do, would that be the simplest solution?

I ask as I'm an Apple Mail user, which has that function, and it has proven to be very helpful.


ryck

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Re: My.com scam? (urgent reply needed?)
ryck #33517 03/22/15 07:44 AM
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Compared with other services (eg, Hotmail and Yahoo), Gmail has a very good spam filter at source and it allows one to classify incoming email via user-selected criteria ("Create a filter"). However, it will only allow the latter to send such into Trash or Spam folders, thus requiring them to be physically dealt with (ie, viewed and/or deleted) at some point.

Re: My.com scam? (urgent reply needed?)
grelber #33518 03/22/15 03:47 PM
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Addendum to my post #33515 above:
Two of the spam messages I get from the same source but ostensibly wholly different entities have Unsubscribe links at the bottom of their messages (usually encouraging participation in a professional survey) which links to exactly the same URL as given in the survey participation link.
These 2 spam messages (with variations on their respective themes) started about the same time (6+ months ago) and they never stop coming (4-5 times per week).


Re: My.com scam? (urgent reply needed?)
grelber #33519 03/23/15 07:47 AM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
However, it will only allow the latter to send such into Trash or Spam folders, thus requiring them to be physically dealt with (ie, viewed and/or deleted) at some point.

That's too bad. Apple Mail has about a dozen different things that can be done with an incoming message. The "Delete" function simply gets rid of the offending email and you never know it was even sent.


ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

iMac (Retina 5K, 27", 2020), 3.8 GHz 8 Core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 2667 MHz DDR4
OS Ventura 13.6.3
Canon Pixma TR 8520 Printer
Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner c/w VueScan software
TM on 1TB LaCie USB-C
Re: My.com scam? (urgent reply needed?)
ryck #33521 03/23/15 10:49 AM
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A similar discussion, based around the use of SpamSieve, may well be worth viewing.

I am a bit of a SpamSieve fanboy, and most strongly recommend it, though I had a few initial problems with the setup. Seems what was intuitive to me, just wasn't so. Ergo, I had to read the manual. Imagine that! (Alas, each email client has its own nuances and thus the setups are slightly different.)


Harv
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Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire

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