Secure Your E-mail
Be careful and selective before providing your e-mail address to a questionable website. Sharing your e-mail address makes you more likely to receive fraudulent e-mails.
Know who before you click
- If you receive a suspicious e-mail, do not reply or click on any link it provides. Simply delete it.
- Do not click on links in e-mails, even if you think the e-mail request might be legitimate. Carefully type the Web address yourself directly into your browser.
- Open e-mail attachments only if you know the sender. If the e-mail has been forwarded from someone you know (it says "FW:" in the Subject), treat it as suspicious as you would something from a total stranger—your friend's computer might have been "hijacked" to send out fraudulent e-mails.
If you already clicked
- If you think you might have provided personal or account information in response to a fraudulent e-mail or Web site, report the fraud immediately to the institution. Log on by typing the Web address (URL) into your browser and change your pass codes immediately.
Suspicious files & viruses
- A lot of spyware or other dangerous programs are spread by e-mail as file attachments so pay special attention to e-mail file attachments.
- Scan e-mail attachments with your anti-virus software before opening them.
- Watch filename extensions. Never open e-mail attachments that have file endings of .exe, .pif, or .vbs. These are executable files and are dangerous.
- Any file that appears to have a double extension, like "heythere.doc.pif" is likely to be a dangerous file and should never be opened.
