[CLICK] Is That Link Safe?

Hi, Bob,

This article is very important! Here is what happened to me: I received an email from "Emily" advising that my package would arrive . . . . I clicked on it, and immediately my files, photos, art work and . . ., were attacked by Ransomware, identified as Lockey. Those devils posted photos of themselves laughing and celebrating the damage they had caused. Their location appeared to be in South Africa. Your readers should NEVER click on an email they are not familiar with, regardless of how benign it appears. Needless to say, I never recovered from that attack, and was forced to purchase a new computer.

I use the Firefox browser. If you hover over the suspicious link, the browser window in the lower left corner will give an indication of what the actual URL is. If it does match where you think it is going, do not click it

I'm assuming reader Linda knew an Emily who would sent her a package -- why else would she click on the link? Or am I misunderstanding what prompted Linda to click the link?

I have run into a few links on trusted sites (well... usually trusted... and the link doesn't look suspicious, but then...) when the link activated one of those annoying nag messages saying "Your computer has been infected. Call this number immediately or click on this link to start disinfecting process." or words to that effect. And then it won't let me close the durn window without bringing up task manager and doing a force close on my browser. Sometimes Firefox even wants to open the previously open windows when I restart. When that stuff happens I usually run PC Matic right away to check to be sure nothing got in. I don't know if there's any way to remedy those other than to say "Well, there's another site not to trust."

Thanks for the great tips Bob. You can never be too careful! I was on Facebook a couple of years ago and a picture of Clint Eastwood was on the screen to the side of what I was reading. It said something like "Clint Eastwood reported dead". Since he's one of my favorite actors, I clicked on the picture and guess what? It was Ransomware site that infected my computer. It had a phone number to call, so I did, and they said it was going to cost me something for them to "restore" my computer! I asked how much and the guy said "Please hold on for a minute." When he came back I told him I'd "restore it myself" because I had backed it up, and then I hung up the phone and disconnect my computer from the Internet. I wiped the Hard Disk clean and then restored with Acronis. Thankfully, I had actually backed up my computer about a week before, so I didn't lose much.

I have the luxury of having my own domain name. (I say luxury, because it costs me under $15 a year!) As such, I give every business a different email address.

Several years back I received an email from Skype (before Microsoft bought them) advising a new version was available, and providing a link to click on to do the update. But, I noticed that email had come into an email address I had only given Citibank. Looking at the headers on the email, it had originated from the Philippines. The link provided was pointing to a site in Korea.

To me it was obvious Citibank had been hacked, but they would not admit it. That ended our relationship for a long time.

If you look an your e-mail on a smartphone is there a way to determine origin of an e-mail without actually clicking on the message ? In other words,is there something you can do that would be equivalent to hovering your cursor over the message on a desktop computer ?

I fell for it recently. Received a Facebook messenger message from a friend. Something like, ARE YOU IN THIS VIDEO? with a link to landpage.co I clicked it just because I HAD to see if it was me in that video and it asked me to log into Facebook with my password. Yes ladies and gents I fell for it. I immediately realized it, changed my FB password and moved on, with no negative consequences, fingers crossed. Oh, there was no video.

I received an email that proclaimed: "SEE ANGELINA JOLIE DANCING NAKED! Click here." I clicked, and my computer immediately locked up.

I received absolutely no sympathy from my wife or any female friend, most of whom still think I'm some sort of pervert.

Often there will be bogus emails about delivery etc. claiming to be from Amazon. It is used frequently because so many people order from Amazon. I almost automatically clicked on one because I indeed had an order on its way. But with my Xfinity email I just have to hover over the supposed sender and the email it originated from will show up. Get some from Japan, the Netherlands, Russia etc.
P.S. HowardL, you deserve no sympathy. ;)

I should think formatting the computer's system disk and re-installing the OS would have solved Linda's problem. No need to buy a new machine.
Of course, that assumes installation media are available. Formatting a disk with a "Restore" partition is no help.

I recently had a very bad experience with Google Play Store.I went to redeem a Gift Card and received a notice that I was eligible for a gift. Stupid me (I know not to click on suspicious items - but you sort of trust Google. Well I was immediately charged $50 which was the amount of the Gift Card. Customer service says that this is not covered under their refund policy. I would think that they would have a whole chapter on this subject.

In response to Don T, asking if I knew an Emily.
No, but it is not unusual for customer service reps to use their first names when corresponding. They never use their last name. Further, I was expecting a package, which is how I was duped into clicking on the email. Once I clicked on it, all hell broke loose. It was amazing how quickly that Lockey Ransomware destroyed my system and stole my art work (I'm an artist), photos, infected all my files, everything. Then they posted photos of themselves laughing and doing the thumbs up at the damage they had caused. It was a very disturbing experience. In my opinion, the individuals who commit these acts are demented, evil people who derive pleasure from destroying the property of innocent people who have never hurt them. They are DEVILS!

This is a VERY timely and relevant article.

My personal policy is that I make it a firm practice to not click on any link in any unsolicited email or on the web without hovering first to see where it is sending me. I have very little confidence in anti-virus because it's a constant arms race...bad guys find a hole, AV plugs it. The user is THE weak link. Google KnowBe4 -- they've turned that reality into a thriving business.

I read daily and generally learn something new. Thanks for doing what you do.

Years ago, when I had a blueberry iMac, I received an email from someone I knew which had an attachment. I clicked on it. The attachment did not open. My screen flickered. I got a virus. My friend's email got hacked. They said at the time it was impossible for Macs to get a virus. I did. I took it to a local techie. He could not fix it. He suggested hooking up a 2nd monitor. When I got the Mac home, I found a folder on the desktop with the virus. I deleted it. My Mac was running again. Since then, I've been very careful. Computer security has improved a lot since then. However, I had a recent experience of purchasing an item from a retail phishing website I found via google shopping. My credit card company refunded my money but many steps were involved. I will never purchase anything again on the internet that is not from a reputable retail website.

Yesterday I failed the test myself and clicked on a link in a text on my phone to click and return the 6 digit Google Code, I still can't believe I did it. I don't use my phone for any banking or sensitive information and rarely even use it to connect to the internet. Any suggestion on what I should do now? Any way to verify if any damage was done? I do have PC Matic, but have never used any antivirus programs on my phone. Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

After reading the comments here this is very true “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,”

Do not click on any links in a suspicious email. Instead, hover your cursor over the link and right-click to reveal a drop-down menu. Select the option to “copy link address” without opening the Web page to which it links. Then go check out that URL (web page address).
So I hovered over Google Transparency Report right clicked and selected copy link address. The box went away, so maybe this is showing my ignorance but now what? I don't know what to do next.