I just got a notification in my Yahoo email account that there’s an updated user agreement, and I need to log in to “accept” the new conditions to continue to use the service.

OH NO! I BETTER DO THAT RIGHT AWAY BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE! Wait a second, I’m already logged in, or else I wouldn’t be able to look at this email. Let me see who sent this to me.

Huh? It’s a Gmail account?! Yahoo doesn’t have a Yahoo account for its administrative purposes, but set up a Gmail account with 22 random letters or numbers because there are so many similar account names?! Wouldn’t that tell me that even Yahoo Mail prefers to have a random Gmail account rather than use their own internal service? That is fishy AF. 

I did a little search. This is a known SCAM. When you log in at the provided link, you are really giving the scammer your email and login. They then log in to your account as you. According to this site, once they get your login, “the threat actor could do any number of things, including compromising connected accounts and stealing your personal information. They could also blackmail you, or simply use your address to launch other phishing and malware attacks. The possibilities are endless.”

Here’s an example of this phishing scheme that the site shared, which is very similar to the email I received:

Notice in this example, the official-looking Yahoo email comes from an AOL account. BA HA HA HA HA HA!

A legitimate email from Yahoo with have an email like this:

Not aol, or Gmail, etc.

Had I been more careless, I could have become a victim of this evil scam.

So, when you get a notification like this, check out where it really comes from.

12 replies on “Beware of this SCAM!”

  2. Thank you Eric! What do you know about NFTs scams? Are this real? There must be someone taking profit but there are so many of this NFTs fake buyers. I have received several offers through Instagram, people urge me to set up an account in open sea or another site and offered me 8000 USD for each digital painting but in Ethereum, do you have any experience about this?

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    1. My sense of reality is that someone is trying to mess with you, though I have no idea why. I haven’t heard of someone scouting out artists who aren’t even selling NFTs, and offering to pay them thousands of dollars for NFTs of their work. The NFT community is mostly on Twitter, and most artists have to spend countless hours on there “hustling” and trying to get enough followers and ranking in the algorithm to gain some sort of presence. I definitely know people who have tried really hard, and make excellent art, who can’t command those prices. So, I’m 99% sure it’s a scam, probably a phishing scam. Not just nasty, but dangerous. That’s my impression, anyway.

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      1. Thank you Eric, yes it is definitely a scam, and more than one, there are uff so many NFTs buyers in Instagram, I just tried and answered to two of the ones that approached to me and I got those wow offers hahaha. Good to know that people can get some good results with NFTs 🙂

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      1. Meant to ask you this before: What do you think of Nightshade & Glaze? I know nothing except the headlines that they’re supposed to protect artists’ work from AI’s grubby little fingers. Just curious. (Did you already post about them & I missed it?)

        Also, the final installment of “Model Life” should be posted early next week. Spoiler: Life doesn’t go well for the model.😳 🥰

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      2. I know about glaze. I tried it, and the problem is that it compromises your art. It kind of like if you were a musician, and something added static and degraded you sound quality. And the less visible the overlaying pattern the less effective it is.

        I’ve find of reconciled myself at this point to AI stealing anything and everything, and I”m working on different strategies to deal with it: evolving with circumstances.

        AI can’t do my videos, for one. But I’m also planning some pieces that use bad AI, etc…

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      3. Oh! Hunh. Like systemic watermark…sort of…

        Disappointing but not surprising, I guess. Reminds me of the dilemma in testing pharmaceutical products: testing is destructive so it has to be done by statistical sampling or there’d be nothing left to sell but statistical sampling can’t guarantee actual results, only statistically-based predictions. Weird example but applicable.

        Thank you!
        Can’t wait to see your new pieces. 🤗

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