Alert: 50% Disсоunt from Telstra at online Bills Pay.

Interestingly today I received an email with the subject "50% Disсоunt from Telstra at online Bills Pay". What I found interesting was that of the four email clients I continuously use and test, only one identified the email as a potential phishing scam.

Whilst the email is designed to appear to be from Telstra using the Telstra logo, if you check the links in the email )don't click on them) you'll notice they are for an IP address (a series of four numbers separated but dots) rather than a domain. The IP address is hosted in the United States.

To Microsoft's credit the email client was Microsoft Live Mail client. In fact you can't click on the links unless you actively unblock the message. That's good protection for users. Unfortunately over time I've found this is more the exception than the rule. It would be a good feature for other email clients to have to protect their users where possible. Of course it is hard because scammers change their approach so quickly to work around the software.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.