Question: I keep getting E Mails saying that I have to pass information about my Hotmail Account otherwise it will be shut down. Is this a scam?
Some computer users have reported that they are getting such mails recently. Is such mails issued by the mail server? Or are they scams?
One thing can be sure is, the mail company, for example, hotmail.com, will never ask users to send password. Why would they do that? They already have the passwords in their servers. Sending mails with passwords is very dangerous, because these mails may be stolen or viewed by other people. If these passwords are stolen, the mail company will also have big troubles in their credit. So, never trust a mail asking for your private account passwords.
Here I will list a scam email sample:
Email Scam : Verify your account now to avoid it being closed!
Sample:
From: @hotmail.com
Subject: Hotmail Warning (Verify Your Hotmail Account now To Avoid It Closed)
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:28:54 +0000
Dear Account User
This Email is from Hotmail Customer Care and we are sending it to every Hotmail Email User Accounts Owner for safety. we are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of Hotmail accounts so we are shutting down some Hotmail accounts and your account was among those to be deleted. We are sending you this email to so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account. If you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the space below.Your User name, password, date of birth and your country information would be needed to verify your account.
Due to the congestion in all Hotmail users and removal of all unused Hotmail Accounts, Hotmail would be shutting down all unused Accounts, You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Information below after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.
* Username: …………………………
* Password: …………………………..
* Date of Birth: ……………………….
* Country Or Territory: …………….
After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconveniences.
Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after two weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.
Again, never, never trust such mail scam. It will take away your passwords, and change your password to another. Send another scam to your friends and family members in your mail contacts. The result is serious. Not only your account may be stolen, other people’s account may be stolen as well.
To avoid email scams and malware from stealing your account and sending such fake information to your mail, I will suggest you download and install an system optimizer. It will keep your computer from being attacked by these scams.