The Alaska USA text scam below, which claims recipients' accounts have been deactivated and ask them to click a link in order to verify, is being sent by scammers. The link goes to the fake website that asks visitors to enter their confidential information, which will then be used for criminal purposes.
The Alaska USA Text Scam
Your Alaska USA Account has been deactivated, Action Required.
Please Visit http://alaska-update.mi/ To sign in to verify
Recognize Phishing Messages
Phishing messages try to induce you into revealing your account information in many different ways, including:
- Threatening to restrict or block access to your account if you do not verify certain facts or "renew" your account.
- Offering to deposit money into your account upon completing a survey.
- Advertising promotions or contests which require you to "register" your account information in order to enter.
- Warning of suspicious activity on your account and asking for confirmation.
- Asking you to update your information to provide enhanced security.
Common signs of phishing messages
There are usually a number of visual clues you can use to further identify a fraudulent email message.
- Look for misspellings and other typographical anomalies - although this clue is less common now that crooks have gotten more sophisticated.
- Before you log in to any secure site, check to make sure the lock or key icon is displayed in your browser. These symbols indicate that the page you are using will encrypt data sent from your computer. Most spoofed websites are located on servers that do not display this icon (although some are now getting tricky and hoping to fool you by incorporating the lock or key imagery into the web page itself).
- Confirm the web address (URL) in the location bar of your browser before entering confidential information. It should begin with "https."