In order to not get taken in like The Dude you have to be careful. While the the internet isn't exactly Deadwood there are charlatans skulking about. One of the latest is a variation of evil spam viruses. Rather than causing mayhem on your pc these folks go for identity theft. Recent emails have circulated spoofing well used sites like paypal and citibank. I recently recieved the citibank one, and while I don't use citibank I could easily see less internet savvy citibank customers falling for this. The email is worded quite well, seemingly from the customer service department asking the user to follow a link to confirm theier email address. Seems all good, the link even looks like it goes to citi.com. If you were taken in by the tone of the email and clicked, you then end up at what looks to be citi.com. (Though the encoded URL may look a bit odd to you) you end up at a form which has your email address already filled in. (Wow that citi, they sure are on the ball...) The form then asks for a few minor account details to "confirm identity" and happily confirms that your email address is now verified. As you likely guessed by now this confirmation is simply information harvesting done for the express purpose of making you the next human identity theft commercial.
The easiest way to not get taken? Never login to a financial through an email link. EVER. Type the URL directly into your browser. If you can't get there from the site's homepage and you're sure the email came from them, pick up the phone.
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