pctoolbox.co.uk » hoax

Hoax-Slayer

Alex — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:00:26 +0000

Hoax-Slayer is a website we discovered a couple of weeks back and a member of our team literally fell in love with it straight away. Graham described it as a ‘website after my own heart’! Therefore, I’ve been set the task to let you know what it’s all about! The description on the Hoax-Slayer website pretty much sums the site up in one paragraph:

“Hoax-Slayer is dedicated to debunking email hoaxes, thwarting Internet scammers, combating spam, and education web users about email and Internet security issues. Hoax-Slayer allows Internet users to check the veracity of common email hoaxes and aims to counteract criminal activity by publishing information about common types of Internet scams. Hoax-Slayer also includes anti-spam tips, computer and email security information, articles about true email forwards and much more. New articles are added to the Hoax-Slayer website every week.”

So in other words, Hoax-Slayer is out with a mission to remove any scams and hoaxes around on the internet to make it a better and safer place for all! The site has a variety of really helpful articles and guides to help you avoid any problems!

The site is really worth browsing over to prepare you for any potentially problematic emails/scams on the internet!

Quick Tip – Phishing

Alex — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 08:00:59 +0000

In the past we have written about recognising spoof emails trying to acquire some form of personal information on you, whether it be from a hoax bank email or website, the problem is becoming much more common and serious. In September 2008 there were over 8,621 Phishing Sites/Emails found and verified. Our previous posts on this topic are:

Phishing – general advice to help you stay safe online

Advice on Hoax Virus Warning Emails

Quick Tip: Stopping Spam

Today we came across PayPals 3 Part Phishing Guide. We think that articles are well worth a look. They are primarily based on helping identify PayPal spoof emails, however much of the information applies to general spoof emails. The links below link to each Part of the Guide:

Part 1- Understanding Phishing

Part 2 – Recognizing Phishing

Part 3 – Fighting Phishing

With more and more phishing sites/emails being found each month we all need to be on our toes with what’s going on!

Safe Surfing!

Quick Tip: Stopping Spam

Grae — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:09:32 +0000

Spam is a huge problem for everyone and while we will never get rid of all of it there are little things that help! So here are a few:

Never Respond to Spam, this tells the sender that your address is active.
Block Images: Spammers can tell if an image was displayed in an email so if possible turn off image display on your email client for suspect messages.
Don’t forward chain letters – it is just a way of collecting email addresses. For more information on this read here.
Don’t click links – much like the images, if you click the links it tells the spammer your address is active.
Never respond to an email requesting information – if a company like ebay or your bank requests for you to confirm your details then it is most probably a hoax. But if you want to be 100% sure then log-in to the respective site in your normal way (going direct to the site!) and then see if you have a message from them.

Well there we go, my top 5 quick tips on stopping or avoiding spam. I hope it helps