Imagine that you open up your email and find a message from your credit card company with the attention-getting subject line, “Important: What you can do now about the recent data breach.” Would you think that Discover had had a customer data breach? You wouldn’t be alone. [More]
Apparent Email Glitch Sent Amazon Baby Registry Notifications To Non-Parents-To-Be
By 9.19.17
Getting an unsuspected gift is usually a nice surprise. But some Amazon customers — including yours truly — received a notification that someone had purchased a gift from their baby registry. The only problem? These customers don’t have a baby registry. [More]
Google Adds Phishing Protection To Android Gmail App
By 5.4.17
Yesterday, millions of Gmail users became the targets of a phishing scam in which someone they knew sent a Google Doc for them to edit. Once they clicked on the email, however, they opened their computers and email accounts to ne’er-do-wells. Now, Google is launching an update that may make it easier for users to decipher when an email is suspicious — as long as they’re using the Android app. [More]
Adidas Sorry About That “You Survived Boston Marathon” Email
By 4.19.17
While finishing any marathon is a feat worthy of a high-five, it’s not a good idea to sound like you’re making light of a terrorist attack that left three dead and hundreds injured. [More]
FTC Shuts Down Tech Support Scammers Pretending To Work For FTC
By 4.11.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Con artists love pretending to be from the federal government; it can lend an immediate air of far-reaching authority to whatever scam they are pulling. Similarly, play-acting as a tech support expert can take advantage of everyday folks’ lack of knowledge about the inner workings of their electronics. One Florida man allegedly tried to combine these two beloved character types into one Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of fraud, only to be shut down by the very agency he impersonated. [More]
FTC: Businesses Could Be Doing More To Protect Customers From Phishing, But Aren’t
By 3.3.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
You probably know the danger signs of a phishing message when it arrives in your inbox: It impersonates a company that you don’t do business with, mentions a transaction that didn’t happen, or has blatant spelling or grammatical errors. The Federal Trade Commission, though, notes that businesses that contact consumers online could implement simple steps to keep phishing messages from us in the first place. They just don’t. [More]
No, The FTC Did Not Email You That You’re Under Investigation
By 12.28.16
If the Federal Trade Commission is investigating you or your business, they will not send you an email asking you to click on a link for more information. How do we know that? The Federal Trade Commission says so. [More]
Yahoo Explains Why It Turned Off Email Auto-Forwarding; Turns It Back On
By 10.14.16
Earlier this week, we told you about Yahoo Mail users complaining that they could no longer use the auto-forward function to have things from their Yahoo account forwarded to a different address. Now Yahoo is explaining why it turned off this function, and why it’s turned it back on. [More]
Yahoo Reportedly Built Tool To Snoop On All Its Emails For U.S. Government
By 10.4.16 — Updated: 10.5.16
It’s one thing to comply with a court order from law enforcement seeking access to a user’s email account; it’s another to build a tool specifically to help U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies eavesdrop on those online discussions. A new report claims that Yahoo did just that last year by creating a program that allowed the company to scour all of its messages on behalf of the government. [More]
Walmart Customers Report Barrage Of Password Reset Requests
By 8.5.16
Getting an email from a retailer telling you to reset your password because you may have been the victim of a data breach is alarming enough. Imagine you’re one of the Walmart.com shoppers who say they have received dozens of emails directing them to reset their login credentials.
[More]
Spammers Used Hacked Email Accounts To Push Bogus Weight-Loss Products
By 6.6.16
Word-of-mouth is a great way to promote a weight-loss product, as you’re more likely to trust a passed-along recommendation from a friend than some ad you see on the internet. That’s why the operators of an alleged spam scam hijacked hacked email accounts to spread the word about a slew of unproven weight-loss products.
[More]
What’s Taking So Long With that Email? Google Adds Smart Reply To Messages
By 3.16.16
Not sure how to reply to that email about your upcoming class reunion from Karen? Don’t worry your pretty little head, Google has apparently has the answer: the tech company has rolled out a “smart reply” service for Gmail that provides users with a set of predetermined, quick replies. [More]
Snapchat Employee Falls For CEO Email Scam, Reveals Some Employees’ Personal Info
By 2.29.16
Last week, we warned readers that the so-called “CEO email scam” was back (did it ever really go away?) with a tax season twist: asking employees to hand over files of employee information, such as a W-2 form. The folks at Snapchat apparently didn’t get the memo, as the photo sharing company announced that it was the victim of a phishing scam that led to ne’er-do-wells getting their hands on the personal information of some employees. [More]
College Students Sue Google For Scanning School-Issued Gmail Accounts
By 2.3.16
Nearly two years after Google agreed to stop data-mining email accounts provided through its Google Apps For Education (GAFE) program, a group of current and former college students have sued the Internet giant for the snooping that did occur for years on the Gmail accounts provided by their university. [More]
Time Warner Cable Warns 320,000 Customers Their Email & Passwords May Have Been Breached
By 1.7.16
Hundreds of thousands of Time Warner Cable customers received alerts this week telling them to change their email passwords after law enforcement officials notified TWC that hackers may have gotten their hands on this sensitive information.
[More]
Comcast Resets Passwords For 200,000 Email Customers After Possible Account Leak
By 11.9.15
Comcast email customers became the latest victims of a potential hack attack this weekend, as the company confirmed it reset passwords for nearly 200,000 users after their email addresses and passwords were posted for sale on a hacker marketplace. [More]
Gmail Wants To Reply To Your Emails For You With Artificial Intelligence
By 11.3.15
While we’re committed to a future serving as underlings to artificially intelligent lifeforms, we might as well enjoy some of the time-saving benefits, right? Like answering emails on the go — who wants to do that when there other more important things to do, like finally beat level 478 of Sugarsweet Smashtastic Kerplosion? Google wants to take on that task, with artificial intelligence that can read and reply to emails on your smartphone. [More]
Chrome Extension Lets Gmail Users Set Their Messages To Self-Destruct
By 7.24.15
In a world where sending instant messages is commonplace, the dark side of communicating at the touch of a button means we often regret the decision to send a photo or email, and just wish it would disappear. Although Gmail recently unveiled an “Undo send” option, for some that might be not be enough. For those folks, there’s a new Chrome extension that gives users the ability to have their emails self-destruct. [More]
