I Received a Suspicious E-Mail. Could It be a Hoax?

[Natalie Kopple]

Hi, this e-mail (posted belo) "seems" originating from the google. The link leads me to a page that asks for e-mail address and password. Do I have a reason to become suspicious?


***********************************************************************
Your email account has been reported for numerous spams activities from a
foreign ip recently. As a result, we have been advised to suspend your
account.

However, you might not be the one promoting this spam,as your email
account might have been compromised.
To protect your account from sending spam mails, You are to confirm your
true ownership of this account by Clicking on the link below and confirm
in one simple step.

https: // docs . google . com / spreadsheet / viewform ? formkey = UgFsZUZadE1zbWVg2cllvYlE6vV5T0ZGMQ

On receipt of the requested information,We shall block your account from
spam.

Failure to do this will violate the email terms & conditions. This will
render your account inactive.
NOTE: You will be send a password reset message In next seven (7) working
days after undergoing this process for Security reasons.

Copyright 2012 - Email Account Management - All Rights Reserved.


Moderator edit: broke the link by adding spaces in the URL. Also mangled the 'formkey' with some random cut'n'paste

[William P O'Sullivan]

DO NOT REPLY.

WP

[Darryl Burke]

Even clicking the link was a mistake. This may have already identified your email account as an active account. Expect an increase of spam.

Do NOT part with your password.

I'm going to edit that link to make it unclickable. Further clicks by any curious reader may be harmful to you.

edit: You could try reporting this to Google. Chances are they'll take down the spreadsheet and close the account of its owner.

[Natalie Kopple]

Thanks a lot for your feedbacks. I have deleted that e-mail and cleaned up my trash folder.

Fortunately, I did not reply to that e-mail.

Lately, many of my friends e-mail accounts were hacked.

[Maneesh Godbole]

Natalie Kopple wrote:...I have deleted that e-mail and cleaned up my trash folder.

I don't know how useful that is. For all you know there still is some toxic residue left over on your trash can.

[Natalie Kopple]

What should I do? Abadon my e-mail account?

[Maneesh Godbole]

Try Kryptonite.

[Natalie Kopple]

What is Kryptonite?

[W. Joe Smith]

My first indication this could be false is grammatical and formatting errors. "spams mails", "sending spam mails, You are", "You will be send a password reset message In next seven" all scream fake to me. My first response would be to forward the email to Google customer service, as they would be your first point of contact for anything like this.

Second, and I know this came after clicking the link but still a point to be made, but any time anyone asks for a password like that I refuse to do anything. If i was already logged in to my Google account, they wouldn't need me to log in again, plus they aren't asking for a password to log in, but to "verify" you own the account.

[Manoj Kumar Jain]

Natalie Kopple wrote:What is Kryptonite?

This is the medicine used to prevent further infection..

[Jesper de Jong]

Natalie Kopple wrote:What is Kryptonite?

Kryptonite - don't tell me you don't know who Superman is!

[Darryl Burke]

Jesper de Jong wrote:

Natalie Kopple wrote:What is Kryptonite?

Kryptonite - don't tell me you don't know who Superman is!

You mean this guy?