Tips for email safety

Follow these tips to keep yourself and your devices safe from malware and criminal attempts.

If it seems fishy, it probably is. Mark the message as spam using your email program's method for doing this. If you're on CenturyLink.net webmail, select the message, then click the Spam button.

CenturyLink webmail inbox showing the spam button

How to mark a message as spam on your CenturyLink webmail

Never open an attachment within an email from a company or person you don't know or that you were not expecting. Attachments can contain viruses, which can seriously damage your computer. Move these emails to your spam folder.

Confidential or sensitive information such as passwords, bank account numbers, and social security numbers should NEVER be sent by email. CenturyLink, PayPal, and your bank are examples of companies that will never ask for personal information in an email. If you get a request like this, it is a scam. Mark the message a spam and delete it.

Replying to, clicking on links within, or even attempting to unsubscribe from spam emails typically only informs the sender that they have found an active email address to which they'll send more spam emails. Instead, report the message as spam using your email provider's instructions.

IMPORTANT: When reporting spam or phishing, DO NOT FORWARD the original email. This may cause you to be flagged as a spammer! Instead, save the email and send it as an attachment.

Spam safety

For an email to be considered spam, it must be both unsolicited and sent in bulk. Not all bulk email is spam. Not all unsolicited email is spam. If you agreed to receive an email from a company, it is not spam.

Spammers send massive amounts of junk email in hopes that at least some of the recipients will click on the links or attachments. When someone clicks on a spam email, they're sent to phishing or malware websites, where they're tricked into providing personal information, activating a virus, or downloading malicious software.

Don't give your email address to sites you don't trust.
Don't post your email address to public places online like message boards, comment boards, or even your personal website.
Keep your personal email private except from people that you really want to hear from. You can set up a second email account for registering for public websites.
Use an alternate email address when buying a product from a site for the first time or signing up for a new service.
Unsubscribe from any bulk email lists you don't want to get. All emails like this should contain an "unsubscribe" link.

Spam filters help you keep spam emails from your inbox or flag spam emails so that you are aware of them. Depending on the software and configuration, some spam filters can automatically eliminate junk emails and block web bugs that track your activity and system information. CenturyLink email accounts come with built-in spam filtering.

Report it to Spam Cop.

Protection from phishing

Phishing is a common internet scam that uses official-looking email messages and websites to trick you into sharing personal information that criminals use to commit identity theft and fraud.

Video: Phishing scams

Be cautious of any email or website that asks for sensitive information and watch for these red flags before sharing information electronically.

Mistakes in grammar or spelling. Real organizations do mess up once in a while, but if the message is so full of errors your elementary school teacher wouldn't accept it, it's likely a scam.
Fishy to/from address. "From" addresses can be easily forged, so pay attention to the "To" field. Is your email address listed? If not, the message is likely a phishing attempt.
No personal information in the email. Most legitimate institutions have your information on file and will address you by name. A "Dear Valued Customer" salutation is suspect. However, phishers can mine public records and social networking sites for your personal details, so don't assume a message is safe just because it contains your name or other trivia.
Requests for personal information. Sensitive information such as passwords, bank account numbers, and social security numbers should NEVER be sent via email. CenturyLink, PayPal, and your bank are examples of companies that would never ask for personal information in an email.