Fairfield woman: Don't be reeled in by phishing

A Fairfield woman saying she received a fraudulent e-mail that was a scam is now warning others not to make the same mistake she did. The woman, who doesn't want to be identified, says she received an

News 12 Staff

Mar 2, 2009, 11:44 PM

Updated 5,777 days ago

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A Fairfield woman saying she received a fraudulent e-mail that was a scam is now warning others not to make the same mistake she did.
The woman, who doesn't want to be identified, says she received an e-mail through her Hotmail account stating that if she didn't respond to the message, her account would be deactivated. She says she thought she would lose e-mails, contact information and pictures, so she replied to the message. That's when she says within minutes scammers accessed her personal information. Within a day, she says the scammers accessed her e-mail and Facebook accounts, changed passwords and sent messages to her friends.
Fairfield police say only one in 700 cases involving this type of fraud are ever solved. They urge Internet users to be proactive to help combat the crime.
"Every time you're giving out information, you have to be extremely careful who you're giving it to ? you never know who's behind them watching these things," says Fairfield Police Sgt. James Perez.
Police urge Internet users not to reply to an unsolicited e-mail. They add that people shouldn't even open unsolicited e-mails because it could invite thieves to steal information.
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