Fake/Spoofed/Phishing Emails

From time to time, customers may receive emails that appear to be from Antietam Broadband or another party but actually are not. Some of these emails can be dangerous and can result in your personal information being used in an unauthorized way, or your computer or other device being infected with a virus.

How can you tell if an email is fake?

  • If it asks for your personal or financial information.  Antietam Broadband will never solicit sensitive information such as social security number, account numbers, passwords, credit card numbers, or PINs over email.
  • If it includes an attachment that you weren't expecting. Downloading an attachment can be more dangerous than simply reading the text displayed in an email. 
  • If it asks you to click on a link to a questionable site.  Sometimes fake emails try to disguise where the links point to.  Hover over the links to see where they are really going.  If it seems untrustworthy, don't click. For example, an email might claim to be from Microsoft, but point to microsooft.com. 
  • If it includes poor English grammar and spelling, it probably wasn't sent from a legitimate company.  Many malicious senders reside in foreign countries, and the people who prepare the fake and malicious emails may not write fluent English.  
  • Header information may be contradictory.  This is a complex topic which you may want to read more about.

What to do with a possibly fake email:

  • DO NOT click on any links in it, or download any attached files.
  • DO NOT reply to the email, even to ask to be unsubscribed.
  • DO Contact the purported sender separately if you're unsure whether the email was sent by them or not.  For example, if you have an email from a friend with an attachment that you weren't expecting, you may want to call them to make sure they really sent it, before opening it. Or, search online for the official company web site of the company who supposedly sent the email in question, access their site and call or email the company directly.
  • DO report fake emails as phishing in your email client, so that any future emails from that party will not be delivered to your Inbox.

To minimize the chances of being the victim of malicious fake emails:

  • DO use an email/client that includes built-in spam/spoof/phishing detection, such as myactv.net or Gmail. 
  • DO Install and run one or more antivirus programs on a regular basis.  

 

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