Personal Finance & Money Asked on January 24, 2021
I received a message that my shipment arrived to its drop point. I’m a 17 years old student and don’t even have a bank account. I didn’t order anything. I already clicked the link they said it’s bad. What should I do? Is it phishing?
How did they get my info?
Should I be worried?
This can be a scam or virus attack. As you haven't given any info you are OK. Run a virus scan just to be sure.
There are multiple ways to get email addresses, it in itself is not much of worry. Just stay vigilant
Answered by Dheer on January 24, 2021
This sounds very much like spam to trick you into clicking that link or, once you contacted them, to get money from you (i.e. "You need to pay the shipping fee. I don't care if you ordered it or not, I got this article and should send it to you. If you want your money back afterwards, contact ..." - Money gone).
There are many emails around that claim you ordered something, made a payment that needs to be reversed, your bank needs your details and so on...
If a random stranger with a suit would walk up to you on the streets and ask you to sign some mysterious contract or give all of your personal data so he can send you money, would you do it? I hope not.
There are current viruses that read emails from infected system and improve the fake emails they send. These emails look very very real and might even trick experienced users to click links or open attachments.
And to answer your 2 questions:
Answered by Chrᴉz supports Monica on January 24, 2021
How did they get my info?
Here are the most popular for spammers to get e-mail addresses:
Collect them from a web subscription / account registration of any internet service or buy them from someone who runs such a service.
Read the address book of hacked accounts.
Randomly try to "guess" valid mail addresses.
Should I be worried?
About getting the spam-mail: No, get used to it, your address is now on the list and will be sold on and on!
About clicking the Link: A little. As others have said, probably best to run a virus scan.
Future Advice: Never click on any links or open any attachments in your e-mail if you do not know they are legit 100%. When you get mail from a service like paypal/amazon/parcel service/whatever prompting you to log in you can always just go to their website directly and not use the link provided.
Answered by Daniel on January 24, 2021
The purpose of the email was to make you click the link, which you did.
The link tried to plant malware on your computer. Either it just succeeded without presenting any visible content... or your computer was immune to that malware (patched; different platform)... or the authorities have already taken the server down.
Another possibility is the page would've asked you to willingly input your personal information that they could use in scams... but the authorities took it down, or the server saw your IP address was not in the region they are targeting with scams.
There are a million ways to get email addresses. Hacking any other site you've ever registered on... published lists of known addresses (from previous hacks)... running fake "contests" that invite visitors to enter their email... hacking someone you sent email to... getting that person to willingly allow a scan of their address book (as Linkedin and Facebook request)... hacking a site that does that... you name it.
But there's an even easier way. Guess.
If you're thinking "that's billions of combinations", yeah, but that's doable.
Answered by Harper - Reinstate Monica on January 24, 2021
Another possibility: If you have a relatively common name (and subsequently email address), or even if you don't, it's perfectly normal to get emails addressed to someone else who mistyped their address when ordering something.
I too have mistyped my email address when ordering stuff online and I'm pretty sure there was an unfortunate soul that got the status reports on delivery of some of my books and whatnots. Ignore those messages (or look up the shop on google).
Assuming of course it was one of the standard fares informing you that "DHL delivered your parcel to PPL drop off point. If this message is not addressed to you click here" affairs.
Answered by mishan on January 24, 2021
You received a message that was foremost designed to get your attention, and it did that successfully. But look at the message: Is there any indication that they know you, beyond knowing your email address, or guessing a phone number if you received it via text message? That’s the best indication that it’s not real.
As an example, my wife received a really nasty email claiming that she had parked her car in the wrong place and she would be fined. She was quite upset until I asked her: Do they mention your name anywhere? Do they mention the license number of your car anywhere, or the make of your car? If it was real the email would have said “Dear Mrs. Gnasher, you parked your orange VW Beetle with license number A123XYZ...”.
Please check, but I’ll bet there is no evidence that they know who you are. There may be links in your email leading to malware to infect your computer, so don’t click anywhere, or they gave a phone number which they want you to call, and either you will be charged for calling the number, or an experienced conman will try to convince you to hand over money.
Answered by gnasher729 on January 24, 2021
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