Advice for Yahoo Xtra Customers Following Increase in Spam

Advice for Yahoo Xtra Customers Following Increase in Spam

Telecom Retail Chief Executive Chris Quin is today warning Yahoo Xtra customers about a spam email that has been sent to some Yahoo Xtra email accounts. The email claims to be from the Yahoo Security Department and asks customers to download an attached file in order to verify their account, but Mr Quin says the message is not from Yahoo or from Telecom and that the attachment may be malicious.

Telecom is advising customers who receive this or any other suspicious-looking email to delete them immediately and never click on any of the links within it or download any attached files. This advice applies even if the email appears to be from a known contact.

The spam email comes in a week when some Yahoo Xtra customers have had ‘spoof’ emails sent to their contacts. Spoofing involves the forged use of an email address to send email traffic (such as marketing spam). The actual user’s email account is not used to send “spoof” emails, but it appears as if it is.

Spoofing attacks are a daily occurrence worldwide and an unfortunate hazard of email via the internet. As spoof emails are not sent from Yahoo’s servers (many of them are generated from overseas servers) there is unfortunately no technical way for Yahoo or Telecom (or any other ISP) to prevent these spoof emails from being sent.

To keep themselves safer online, Telecom is strongly recommending that customers never include sensitive information (such as passwords or credit card details) in emails and never store such information in their email portal. If they have done this in the past, customers are advised to take steps to ensure their information is safe (such as changing passwords).

Mr Quin says: “If you have been affected by these spam emails I would like to apologise for any concern or frustration this may be causing. We will continue to do all we can to keep our customers informed, to support them to stay safe online and to minimise the impact of cyber crime on our email platform.”

ENDS

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What should I do if I receive a ‘spam’ email?

Immediately delete the suspicious email and never click on the links contained within it or download any attached files, even if the mail comes from a known contact.

What can I do to further protect my account?

• Never include sensitive information (such as passwords or credit card details) in emails and never store sensitive information in your email portal.

• Use a unique password for your email – for example don’t use the same password for your online banking, your email and your Twitter account.

• Change your email password regularly and don’t go back to old passwords, always set up and use a new one.

• Scam emails can appear to come from someone you know, so don’t click on suspicious links and watch out for phishing scams.

• Recognise when it is too good to be true – for example lottery wins notifications.

• Know how to quickly change your password using the simple links Telecom provides.

• Ignore unexpected attachments – if in doubt delete and contact the person who sent it to confirm it is the real deal.

• Keep software and anti-virus up to date.

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