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E-mail safety information

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E-mail safety links A - Z

General Safety Tips

Chain letters
How to deal with them.

Hoaxes, rumors and urban legends
How to tell the difference between a hoax and reality.

Obtaining E-mail Headers

Phishing
Tips for protecting yourself and your phone.

Scams and fraud
How others will try to trick you.

Spam
What you can do about junk e-mail.

Spoofing

Useful Software

Viruses
Protecting yourself from e-mail viruses and how to spot a fake.

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Spoofing

How to tell a spoofed e-mail address from a legitimate e-mail address

SpoofingExplanation :: Detection :: Solution :: Prevention

It is extremely difficult to detect a spoofed e-mail address, at first glance. It is possible to identify a spoofed e-mail by carefully analyzing e-mail headers but generally, spoofed e-mail is not immediately detected as such.

There are several things to look out for regarding potentially spoofed e-mail addresses

Typically, spoofed e-mails will appear to come from a legitimate source and it is often only the content of the e-mail itself that can give the spoofer away. Banks and other financial orgaizations do not request personal information via e-mail - that is one of the most important things you can remember regarding all e-mail fraud (spoofing, spamming and phishing included).

Like spammers, spoofers use various ploys to trick users into opening their e-mails, anything from placing "Dear friend" or "Remember me" in the subject line - implying that the e-mail is from someone the user knows, to more generic subjects like, "Your money has been refunded" or "About your Web site."

Be wary of e-mail that appears to be from a legitimate source (like your bank) that asks you to update your personal information - it is almost certainly a phishing attempt and the official looking e-mail address will be spoofed.

How to tell if your e-mail address is being spoofed

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Parts of this Web site were taken from Parry Aftab's book The Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace. Marvel and all character names and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc., and are used with permission. TM & © 2004 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved. www.marvel.com. Super Heroes is a Co-owned registered Trademark.
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