Be Leery of Links in E-mail

One of the most common ways to get intrusive files, spyware, adware, worms or cookies on your computer is clicking on links in e-mails that take you where you didn’t know you were going. These e-mails usually are spam or are spoofing that the e-mail is from your financial institution or a site you frequent such as eBaY. The senders of these type of e-mails are very sneaky while some are blatantly obvious.

First off, never click on a link that is all numbers no matter how good the offer or noble the cause may seem. A Web site address that is all numbers is called an IP address. E-mails only noting IP addresses simply cannot, should not be trusted! Why wouldn’t the sender spend the ten bucks to have a domain name? Because they don’t want to be traced, that’s why!

IP addresses are the underlying computer number for which a domain name is the “vanity license plate.” Imagine if we had to remember all those numbers just to find Web sites — that’s where domain names come to the rescue! A Web site address is also known as a URL (Uniform Resource Locater).

With these sneaky e-mails you will see words to click on like “Click here….” or some e-mails have domain names as the visible text to click on so it appears to be a site familiar to you. Careful here!

Always put your mouse over the link first (don’t click) to see what displays in the underlying code as actual location of where you would be directed to. Many times this is a bait-n-switch situation where you are being shown a warm fuzzy to click on while the underlying code will take you to locations unknown.

So to be safe, never click on links within in an e-mail unless you know the person who is sending you that link (forwards from irresponsible forwarders do not count) or you specifically requested information (Web site request, newsletter, ezine, etc.) and it is being sent to you.

To review:

• Do not click on IP numbers in e-mail.
• Do not click on URLs from those who you are not absolutely positive are the sites you can trust — even if they say they are.
• Always mouse-over a link in an e-mail to see if the underlying URL matches that which you are being asked to click and visit.

Just a little thought before clicking can save you a bunch of unnecessary trouble and headaches! HTH!

Some More Info for You:

1. 3 Rules for Posting Your Business Links
2. Do You Get E-mails that are Shooting Blanks?
3. HTML E-mail & Your Privacy
4. Use Your Dot Com for Business E-mail
5. Asia & Spam & Blocks, Oh My!