Question:
I received an email that stated my account has a virus and i need to submit my password. is this a scam?
diem
2011-11-08 19:49:06 UTC
I received an e-mail today stating that my yahoo email account has received a virus and i need to submit my password and email address. the sender of the email says it's yahoo support but at the end of the @yahoo.com part there is a .com.ph . is this legit or is this a scam email? I find the whole thing a bit fishy. thank you.
Eight answers:
Buffy Staffordshire
2011-11-08 21:19:27 UTC
100% scam.



That is a scammer trying to hi-jack your email address to spam all your contacts and then use the account to spam hundreds/thousands of others.



Yahoo and all email companies, all banks and all companies in the entire world will NEVER ask for your password, pin or date of birth. No Exceptions Ever.



Ignore and delete that email and any others demanding such information.



If you have responded to a scammer, you are on his 'potential sucker' list, he will try again to separate you from your cash. He will send you more emails from his other free email addresses using another of his fake names with all kinds of stories of needing your password, great jobs, lottery winnings, millions in the bank and desperate, lonely, sexy singles. He will sell your email address to all his scamming buddies who will also send you dozens of fake emails all with the exact same goal, you sending them your cash via Western Union or moneygram.



Do you know how to check the header of a received email? If not, you could google for information. Being able to read the header to determine the geographic location an email originated from will help you weed out the most obvious scams and scammers. Then delete and block that scammer. Don't bother to tell him that you know he is a scammer, it isn't worth your effort. He has one job in life, convincing victims to send him their hard-earned cash.



Whenever suspicious or just plain curious, google everything, website addresses, names used, companies mentioned, phone numbers given, all email addresses, even sentences from the emails as you might be unpleasantly surprised at what you find already posted online. You can also post/ask here and every scam-warner-anti-fraud-busting site you can find before taking a chance and losing money, email address or identity to a scammer.



If you google "yahoo email phishing scam", "email hijacked viagara porn spammer" or something similar you will find hundreds of posts of victims and near victims of this type of scam.



In fact, if you check out the section here at Yahoo Answers entitled "Yahoo email, spam and bulk mail" you will find hundreds of questions from victims who have had their email address hi-jacked or spoofed by scammers sending out porn and viagara spam.
Zach
2011-11-08 19:59:42 UTC
This e-mail is undoubtedly a scam. DO NOT REPLY TO IT! But, it may indicate other problems on your system. First, you should scan your computer for viruses, malware, worms, trojans, spyware, and registry errors and see if there are any of these. And I don't mean a quick scan, I mean an entire system scan. Next (if there weren't any problems here), look and see if your internet was hacked (assuming you have wireless capabilities). The best way to do this is to change the passwords. Also, avoid making your own password. Have the router make the password, because most hackers use a word-generator to make the simple words that most people use.
2011-11-08 20:05:03 UTC
Highly likely to be a scam

I never heard of a virus in an email account before
2011-11-09 10:33:03 UTC
This is a known phishing scam attempting to get you to give them all your personal info. It's not from Yahoo, just delete it and ignore it. Good luck and be careful.
Bringing Salvation
2011-11-08 19:52:40 UTC
100 percent scam
Hannah
2011-11-08 19:49:48 UTC
Scam! Never give your password out.

(:
?
2011-11-08 19:59:59 UTC
its a scam email
Dejan
2011-11-08 20:35:24 UTC
Scam ... filter this mails


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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