An email that came through the other day:

Support  ( subject)
Welcome to our new website
Dear(email address). Etc etc

Innocuous you’d have thought.
Well, I didn’t know where or whom it came from..and it had to be the Windows computer to check it out without running risks hey.
Interesting!  Went to..a dot com in China…Facebook didn’t let me even let me put the website in.when I put this..or tried to post this on Facebook…It came from what I’d say was an emailer, but different web address. No way was I going to click the link…turns out that where the link went to was ok, but the website..after I found a few things via a website checker, had been compromised, URLs not going to where they said, that sort of thing. Wasn’t on any black lists, but a minute later it was..all sorts of red lags, put there by the powers that be I imagine. Fun fun fun. Nothing quite like chasing a nefarious email down!

Not a good thing if I publish a how-to check nasty emails and links, and a someone follows my instructions, and gets into serious trouble..eh. They can get into trouble if they use the wrong computer or browser, or if one or more settings isn’t right. So, with that in mind,…the main object is to have someone else check these nasties out for you, and there are sites out there that do that for free…note that crucial phrase..for free! I have slipped up once that I know of, and that was a link contained in an email from a ..known person shall we say:) Main reason that I say once..is that there aren’t emails being sent to people in my address book, my bank accounts are untouched, no-one has used my credit card, and a few other clues as well. Although, as we found out recently, some of these..um..overseas persons can get lucky with credit card numbers!   Apparently they don’t need a name, just numbers..sigh, and..well, it’s always evolving. Soon as I realised that something was amiss, all passwords were changed..a few times.

Aaaand, I was lucky. Banks can and do monitor your accounts..well, their computers do, and that’s how a few peoples bacon has been saved. I was in the habit of buying stuff..yes yes, we all do that..and putting my credit card over to them..secure link and all that, only got months later, the bank telling me that that site was later compromised, so for my safety, they cancelled my card, and issued a new one. Phew I say. So the Cous advised me to get PayPal..yes we all have a few cousins..and now PayPal does the hard lifting. So if they get compromised, I only have one lot of things to change. People can use a password manager, so they can enjoy long and convoluted passwords we are all exhorted to use. SIGH.

Geekflare has a few tools listed there..two of its site checkers said that the Chinese site was ok..and the securi link doesn’t go anywhere that Id want to go..the securi site below found the malware all right. So, we check a few times. I mean..I mean, there’s no getting around a nefarious site/email/link is there? You really wouldn’t check Every email..you’d be there all day. I have Norton on one computer, and Windows defender on the older/other/Windows insider computer. To not have a virus checker in this day and age…well, OK, Apple seem to do a pretty good job with their iPads..um..as long as you get all the updates! To my mind, you Have to be able to see where a link is going to take you..Windows lets you hover over the link without actually taking you there. I have trouble seeing that on the iPads though, so serious stuff is done on the..Windows. Computer with Norton. The/my blue Ippy is an old iPad mini..Apple doesn’t update it any more…sigh..so..fun stuff, not suspect sites, that sort of thing. Word processing..blogs..etc etc.
Ah, the Cous..that’d be Ronald.
Good links…
http://www.snopes.com/
https://app.webinspector.com/
https://sitecheck.sucuri.net/
http://get-site-ip.com. Gives you the IP address to use if that’s what the checker wants.