Last week I received this email, which looked like it came from Amazon, and was sent to the email address I use with my Kindle.
Something about it made me suspicious, though. So I did not click on the link in the e-mail, but went to my computer (where I also have an extra anti-virus program installed) and opened my amazon account the usual way, via the website, to check my recent orders and purchases. I had no problem logging in and could not see anything suspicious there. The only thing I buy from them is e-books and I have no subscriptions or 'pending orders'.
To be on the safe side, I followed instructions about suspected spam on the website and forwarded the (spam) email to Amazon for inspection.
I received an auto-reply saying (among other things):
In all likelihood, the message you received was not sent to you by Amazon.com. We strongly advise that you *not* send any information about yourself back to this individual (especially your credit card number or any personal information).
--- if you are ever uncertain of the validity of an e-mail, even from us, don't click on any supplied links - instead, type our web site address --- directly into your browser and follow the regular links to Your Account. Many unscrupulous spoofers mislead consumers by displaying one URL while taking the visitor to another. By typing in a well-known address you can avoid this trick. --- Many spammers and spoofers use programs that randomly generate e-mail addresses, in the hope that some percentage of these randomly-generated addresses will actually exist.
This week I received the same spam-email again. I followed the same procedure (including informing Amazon). (Again no actual problem with my account.)
Today I received a similar kind of threatening spam email, but this time giving McAfee (antivirus protection company) as sender, saying that my subscription had expired and should be renewed immediately. As I never had any subscription with McAfee (but with another company, recently renewed), I sent this one straight to my email spam folder, though. (It also looked more amateurish than the "Amazon" one - far too many exclamation marks etc.)
These kinds of fake messages make me not only tired but angry, as they play on our fears of already having been attacked/swindled etc.
I think most bloggers are probably aware of it, but it can't be repeated too often: Do not click on links in emails that seem in any way strange. Much better to be on the safe side and go to the website the usual way.
