We Will Never Ask for Your Password
July 29th, 2009 Filed in: Security 8 comments
(6 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...Scam emails are something we should all now be well aware of. Andrew, from the Yahoo! Mail Team, brings us the following timely reminder:
You’ve all probably seen some sort of scam email, and by now you probably think you’ll never be fooled by one. But from time to time, I get one that I think is particularly cunning. And it reminds me that it’s never a bad thing to have a little refresher course on how to avoid be the victim of phishing scams. I received this email over the weekend, and thought I’d share it with you as a particularly good example of a phishing email.
Phishing, for those of you unfamiliar with the term, is the act of trying to trick you into revealing your account and login information via a fake email or fake Website. The one pictured above is a prime example of a phishing email, which uses a scare tactic to try to solicit you to send your account details and password. Here I’m being asked for the password for my Yahoo! account, and the email threatens that I could lose my account if I don’t send my info. It could just as easily been my banking information.
The most important thing you need to know is that we will never ask you for your password. NEVER!! And we would certainly never ask you to give us any of your account information unsolicited. Banking sites, like Yahoo!, are the same and you will never be asked for your account details in an email.
So if you receive an email like the one above, don’t fall for it. Just delete it, or better yet, report it using this form.
So there you have it, Yahoo!7 will never email you asking for your password! 
If you receive such an email that looks like it’s from us, please be sure to pass it on via this form.
The following blog posts may also be of interest to you:
Email safely,
Kate – Yahoo!7 Mail Team
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8 Comments Add your own
1. kerrie | August 1st, 2009 at 5:24 pm
every time i try to sign in, i’m being asked for information. Which tells me they’ll reset my pass word- which i don’t want.
i can usually get around this page & sign in without give any details. But today I can’t!
i close the window, open a new one, & re-type yahoo address in & start again.
also every time i create a sign in seal, it’s not there next time.
it’s nothing to do with my pc deleting cookies or any thing.
Is this a genuine thing?
I have a feeling it’s not.
has anyone else having this problem?
i desperately want to check my emails but don’t want to risk giving my details.
2. Wal Towells | August 2nd, 2009 at 8:04 am
I am not worried about scams. What I am concerned with is my inability to get a reply, confirmation, assistance or advice as to any situation in relation to my inability to access my email account but have no problems with surfing the internet.
Is it a case of my being one of the small fish in the sea, there only for the sharks to have as an entree at their leisure?
Wal Towells
3. Floost | August 4th, 2009 at 12:56 am
I really like your blog and i respect your work. I’ll be a frequent visitor.
4. CRM | August 22nd, 2009 at 11:18 am
I asked yahoo about whenever I log on to my yahoo account I’m directed to account information, I did with my one yahoo account but when I edited my aacount information and click the finish, I’m directed to another pop up window to save it. I didn’t because it looked fishy to me. I wish you could give me an answer because the answered I got from yahoo is so general I cannot even define any answer to my query, please help
5. CRM | August 22nd, 2009 at 11:19 am
I asked yahoo about whenever I log on to my yahoo account I’m directed to account information, I did with my one yahoo account but when I edited my acount information and clicked the finish button, I’m directed to another pop up window to save it. I didn’t because it looked fishy to me. I wish you could give me an answer because the answered I got from yahoo is so general I cannot even define any answer to my query, please help
6. In the News: Email Accoun&hellip | October 7th, 2009 at 11:59 am
[...] And of course, I’ve posted a number of articles about online safety to this blog: Spotting phishing emails, how to spot online scams, avoiding the lottery scams, and account recovery [...]
7. Val | October 19th, 2009 at 8:49 am
I cannot believe that I have just given my user name and password to what I realized after was a bogus yahoo mail upgrading site the email address was info@yahoomail.com.
I did immediately change my password. So if anyone else gets this beware.
It was going to close my email account in 48 hours if I did not comply. What an idiot I was
8. Jan Ruby | December 21st, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Thank you. I was sure that you would never ask for my password or ID. But after recieving the e-mail several times I had to doulbe check with you here. Guess this one got my attention and I spamed it because it stated you where having computer main fame problems because of e-mail accounts….
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