The Hidden Website Address Trick

 

Many times you'll open your email inbox and see an email from a potentially legitimate source...but it's not.  Let me give you an example.

Your Turn To Get Rich.com

It's a pretty enticing title, wouldn't you agree?  But if you click the link (and it's okay"), this is actually a link to a YouTube song I made called You've Gotta Have Friends.  No worries, it's safe and has some nice lyrics about friends. 

The point in this post is to teach you how to figure what the link really is so you don't get hacked. I'm pretty good at avoiding these scams but even I got hacked real bad a couple of years ago, and it cost me a LOT of money to hire someone to get the hacker off my computer.    

HERE'S HOW TO CHECK THE LINK : On some browsers you can hover over the link without clicking and it will show the the web address.  If that doesn't work, you can also hover over the link and right click you mouse/mousepad.  That will show the link, or you can right click and select copy link and paste it on something like a word document, a blank email, etc...just don't click the link.

The key point here is to not click on a link until you see what website the link is actually going to. Many links in blog posts, news articles, etc. do go legitimate sites, the title is just easier to read than the actual web address. 

"Titled" links have a purpose and are useful...especially on well known legitimate websites.

Example - Below are links to the same article. The first one has a title for the link, and the 2nd one is the actual link to the story.

Some Animals Laugh

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/at-least-65-species-of-animal-laugh-study-finds/

In other words don't be paranoid about every link you see, but be careful on unknown sites, emails from unknown sources, social media messages, etc.

Stay safe out there in the internet world.

Looks Like a Fish, Smells Like a Fish....It's Probably a Phish

Not sure what this is all about. Looks very fishy. Email from info@resourcecomplexity.com When you go to that site....It's some type of parked domain. Looks like fish, smells like fish, probably is phish. The red flag was...we never expressed interest in a new checking account. Maybe they send to thousands of people in hopes some of them were actually expressing interest. Not confirmed, but we're not about to click on any of their links. Finalization required for new account options

We thank you for expressing interest in a new checking account. The options below provide specific accounts for individuals in any situation. Please review the details for your customized account options.

Watch out for Electronic Tax Refund Verification Emails from Banks

This one really struck me as wrong.  Email from person claiming to be Bank of America asking to confirm bank account information since IRS electronic deposit email came in.  This person even had bankofamerica as part of their email address. ( onlinebanking@R5T1Qbankofamerica.com), and the email was well written to the point 
of almost being believable.

It's a shame people that are capable of writing such convincing emails could utilitze their 
skills to do something productive in society instead of criminal.

Watch your back America. NEVER give your bank information out to anyone unless you call
them yourself.