February 24th, 2009
Following on from our last post about spotting online scams, we thought we’d let you know about a fantastic feature for logging into any Yahoo!7 product more securely – Sign-In Seals.
When signing in to Yahoo!7, you will no doubt be familiar with the yellow box directly above where you input your login details. This is the Sign-In Seal.
To start the creation process, simply click upon the key symbol or upon the “Create your sign-in seal” link, as demonstrated above. The entire process will only take a minute or so of your time, well worth it for peace of mind!
Once you have elected to create a sign-in seal, you are presented with two options:
- Create a text seal
- Upload an image
Creating a text seal
To create a text seal, simply select the “Create a text seal” option.
You will then be shown 3 text boxes in which to input your message, you may fit more than one word per box, as we have shown in the example. In total, your message may not exceed 21 characters. It is not recommended that the message be either your Yahoo! id or your password; instead perhaps choose your address, names of your family members or pets, a favourite artist or saying. The important thing is – choose something that you will remember and know instantly that you are signing in securely.
Clicking the preview option will give you a view of how your seal will appear, clicking save will return you to the sign in screen and your seal will appear ready for use.
Creating an image seal
To create an image seal, simply select the “Upload an image” option.
You will then be shown a box, with a browse option from which to navigate your computer and select your image of choice. You may wish to use a photo of a family member or favourite pet, or something else entirely; the choice is up to you. The important thing is to choose something that is instantly recognisable to you.
As with the text seal creation, clicking the preview option will give you a view of how your seal will appear and clicking save will return you to the sign in screen; and your seal will appear ready for use.
Sign-in seal colour
To further customise your sign-in seal, you have the option to choose from a range of colours. As seen in the examples previously shown, you can see the use of purple in the image border and the text seal background.
If you are interested in reading further about Sign-In Seals, check out our FAQ page.
So what are you waiting for? Why not spend a few moments to create your sign-in seal and relax! 
Happy creating,
Kate – Yahoo!7 Mail Team
February 16th, 2009
We’ve all received scam messages via email and it really is quite scary the number of people who fall victim to scams – almost 3 million a year in the UK alone!
It is currently Scams Awareness Month in the UK, so we bring you this post from Andrew of the Yahoo! Mail Team who handles both the UK and US Mail Blogs:
This month in the UK, the Office of Fair Trade is promoting their annual Scams Awareness Month. In support of their efforts, I’ve posted some scam avoidance tips on the UK Mail Blog. Since they apply just as much across the pond as they do State-side, I wanted to share them with you too. The first step in helping you to stay scam-free is to recognize the types of scams that are out there. Here are the three most common types that come in email form (which I’m sure some of you have seen before):
- Phishing scams – These are email scams that claim to be from an organization, like a bank, and they ask you click on a link which takes you to a Website that looks real but is, in fact, fake. When you log in with your account details and password on this fake site, the bad guys gain access to your private information.
- Lottery Scams – These are emails that tell you have won a local or foreign lottery and to get the money you have to pay processing fees and send personal details.
- Advance fee or fund transfer schemes – These are also called Nigerian ‘419’ scams where you receive an email, often times from someone claiming to be in Africa or Asia, and claiming that they have access to huge sums of cash but need your help getting it out of the country. In this scam, the criminal offers to send you a check for $100,000 and you send him back a personal check for $90,000 and keep the difference. The scam is, of course, that the initial check is bogus but may take several weeks to clear, by which point the criminal is long gone with your money.
You know what? Your bank will NEVER ask you for a password in an email, you have NOT won the lottery and all you end up with for those huge sums is a ZERO balance in your bank account.
Still not sure if an email is really a scam? In collaboration with Mark our Anti-Spam Czar, Andrew has also posted some excellent tips on how to identify scam emails along with some examples of what they may look like. Head on over to the Yahoo! UK Mail Blog to read more
The most important piece of advice we can give you is, never act upon anything in these sorts of emails and never reply to them. If you should ever receive such an email, please be sure to pass it on to us via this form.
Happy Identifying,
Kate – Yahoo!7 Mail Team
November 6th, 2008
We all love receiving mail, but I’m sure that I’m not the only one who has gotten a “lottery spam” email claiming to be from Yahoo! That familiar ‘Congratulations you won…’, except that would be impossible as Yahoo! does not run a lottery.
Our resident Anti-Spam Czar, Mark Risher, recently had a few words to share about lottery scams in this Yodel post:
Coalition crackdown on lottery spammers
What generally increases when the overall economy declines? That’s right – crime. And these days, when you receive an email that proclaims that you’ve won the “Yahoo! Lottery,” the financially-pressured optimist in you might be more inclined to bite the bait.
Last May, we filed a lawsuit against “Yahoo! Lottery” spammers who use our brand to trick unsuspecting users into handing over personal data to claim a prize. And we’re making progress on catching these scammers, but we’re concerned that they may step up efforts to dupe people impacted by these tough times.
Today we announced a public-private coalition with Microsoft, the African Development Bank, and Western Union to allow victims of lottery scams to upload police reports we can use with the goal of tracking down these devious criminals and developing better ways of protecting people online. INTERPOL has gotten involved to inform international law enforcement agencies about the initiative and provide guidance on critical information to collect to identify trends and common patterns.
Here’s how it works. Yahoo! and the other coalition members have set up dedicated email addresses and Web sites (ours is http://antispam.yahoo.com/phishingtips) where lottery scam victims — those who took the bait and handed over personal information — can share details of the police report they have filed. These reports may be helpful to other coalition members and law enforcement in fighting lottery scammers.
For readers who spot a scam but don’t fall for it, we have tips for you, too. First off, don’t ever reply to the message, even as a joke. You don’t want to be encouraging these guys. Instead, click the “Spam” button, which helps us and our anti-spam systems block these types of messages and kick these criminals off the Internet. We also have a form you can use to report lottery scams and other kinds of abuse originating from Yahoo! users.
As we’ve said before, no one ever wins the Yahoo! Lottery. And that’s simply because there is no Yahoo! Lottery. We’re on a mission to protect you from these online predators, but in addition to what we’re doing on our end, you can also find some tips on how you can protect yourself on our anti-spam resource site.
Mark Risher
Anti-Spam Czar, Yahoo! Mail
Wow! What excellent news from Mark!
Should you ever be “lucky” enough to receive such an email, please do not reply to it and be sure to pass it on to us via this form.
Email safely,
Kate – Yahoo!7 Mail Team
Tags: anti-spam
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