Spoof emails are becoming incredibly common these days and the main way that scammers get their viruses spread. These spoof emails will quite often come from a company that you are familiar with and so you are lead to believe that it is a legitimate email from that company and you happily reply or give the details asked for in the email.

Scammers sending these emails are trying to access your personal information such as passwords and bank or credit card details.

These emails will often be forging large companies such as Ebay, Paypal or MSN. Becoming more and more common are emails pretending to be coming from banks and if you receive one that just happens to be from the bank that you have an account with, then you may be fooled into giving them your personal information.

These emails will often be worded to make you concerned by stating things such as that your bank account will be frozen due to some particular reason and that the only way to keep your bank account active is to click on the link within the email and update your details. As the email is not actually from your bank but from these scammers, the link that you click will take you to their own website which they have set up to look exactly like your banks website. Because it looks identical to your banks website you believe that it is and freely enter your personal details. As soon as those details are entered the scammer then has access to your bank details.

The emails that come from Ebay look exactly like Ebay emails and even use the Ebay logos and email layout. They will have a similar message saying that your account will be suspended if you don't update your details.

Once the scammer has access to your Ebay account password they will change the password so that you cannot access your account and they will steal your identity. They can then use your identity to sell non-existent items and can make a fair bit of money before buyers start to realise that they are not receiving the items they have paid for. The scammer then disappears with the money they have made and they can't be traced because the account is only traced back to you.

If you realise that you have fallen victim to a spoof email and given a scammer your personal information then you need to contact your bank, Ebay or whatever institution it involved, immediately and try to stop the scammer before he goes too far with your account access.

Spoof emails may also come with the intention of dropping a virus onto your computer and then spreading it to everyone in your email address book. These emails will often look as though they come from someone you know and will usually have a subject line that sounds very personal to make you feel like it must be from someone you know. These emails will often come with an attachment and when you open that attachment your computer will be inflicted with the virus.

Recently these spoof emails are being sent as 'undelivered mail' emails to make it look as though you have sent an email and it has been returned undelivered. This type of email has probably fooled many people as a normal reaction to an undelivered email is to open it to see who you sent it to and why it was undelivered. Whatever you do NEVER open the attachments in these emails.

If you receive an email from an institution and it looks legitimate always be cautious and never trust them. If you are unsure whether you do need to update details, close the email and open your internet browser and log in to your account through that way and never go into your account through an email.

If you receive an email from anyone that you don't know or from someone you do know but it looks a bit strange - never open the attachments unless you are 100% sure that it is from a reliable legitimate source.

About the Author

Azwan Asmat is the author of Chuang Computer Tips - http://chuangcomputer.blogspot.com - Online threats have become a major computer security issue. Would you like to know the secret of securing your PC from dangerous spyware, adware, and malware programs that can ruin your PC, your finances, and your sanity?!! Visit http://www.chuangcomputer.com/pcsafety/ for more info.