Rex Krueger
patreon
Beware the "payment update" scam.
🕑 Added 2024-10-29 12:32:37 +0000 UTCFriends:
One of our community members just got an email asking him to "update his payments" for Patreon, but he signed in and found that everything was in order. This was probably a scam.
If Patreon sends you any emails, it probably best not to click on any links in the email. Instead, sign in to your Patreon account in a new browser tab and have a look at your account that way.
Never click a link in any email if you aren't 100% sure the sender is trusted. It's easy to be fooled by these sophisticated scams. I once lost control of my Instagram account for a few hours because I clicked a link without thinking. It can really happen to anyone.
Think before you click!
If anyone in the software or security industry wants to add more advice for avoiding scams, please drop a comment below.
--Rex
Comments
Rex Krueger
Great tip!
Rex Krueger
All great tips!
Rex Krueger
It's worth checking, but if nothing has happened, then you're probably okay.
Jennessa Lynam
Oh no I'm pretty sure I've already did this. 😲 I remember getting an email not too long ago stating the same thing but I didn't think anything of it, such as it being a scam. I'll have to go through my emails to check and make absolutely sure though. Oh i really do hope my memory is wrong on this one. 🤔🤞
Bob Templeton
I saw the link to Patreon in the message and thought that would be a creative way to scam people.
Geoffrey Wilson
Great advice about the urgency of the wording. The scammer needs you to respond emotionally and not think it through, so the wording is URGENT. Best of any email or notification like this.
Richard C von Brecht
Great tip on the hovering over a link.
Richard C von Brecht
Unless it is a site I know and an email address I’ve seen before I consider it all to be toxic! In particular I don’t trust emails containing warnings about scams. In this case I independently went to Patreon to check into this warning. Everything can be Spoofed, even your special style
Ragnhild
Remember: the only thing that happens if your payment to Patreon doesn’t go through is that the creator doesn’t get the payment. There’s no penalty.
Dave West
Good advice Rex. My day job is security in the software world. A couple of things you can do before clicking on a link to see if its legit or not: - Take your time, most of the times that people lose their info to a scammer its because they were in a rush and clicked on something before they really looked at it. - If you've opened the email you can hover your mouse over the link (could be a button, hyperlink word or straighy link) and look at where its from. If its legit you should recognize the url or at least it shouldn't look like alphabet soup. This is only a quck check method to weed out the obvious ones. Never click on something in an email that you don't know the sender. - If an email is unexpected or has some sort of urgency to it (DO THIS NOW OR YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE LOCKED). No legit company will ever send an email like this. ESPECIALLY from a financial institution. - Always err on the side of caution. If you think something is fishy, go to the supposed senders website and confirm the claim in the email. - I highly recommend watching a phishing education video. There are plenty on youtube. Phishing is the number one way scammers and hackers gather information and comprimise accounts. Its unfortunate we have to do these things but it is the times we live in. Stay safe and get in your shop.
Josh Rowlison
Anytime someone sends you an email with a link, you can usually hover the link to see the address. Patreon.com is owned by Patreon and it would be hard to conduct a scam from within that address. But Patreon.myfakesite.com is mine and I can do what I want. Importantly, the hover thing is showing you where the link is going to take you. Its absolutely possible for me to make a link that looks like patreon.com when you read it but the hover looks at where it wants to actually send you. Sender isnt reliable for telling you an email is safe because you can put whatever you want in the From box technically. But a dead givaway of lazy scams is "Google" contacting you from Suzy Q Muckenfudge's personal email, or worse some wild subdomain like google.evisuality.soomatifun.com, which you can see by hovering the name if the address isnt already visible. These companies have all the money in the world, they have no need to send emails from skeezy subdomains or make important announcements from random peoples addresses. A few legit companies like microsoft use odd domains for technical reasons but its always safe to avoid emails you dont trust and visit the site by the Url you know.
Matt McNabb
Thanks for the heads up! One thing to think about - scammers use want you to click their links, and one strategy for that is to raise your urgency level. They often do this by using a financial stimulus, like "act now or you'll be charged some fee!" This is a sales tactic and is designed to convince you to act without thinking. Be thoughtful about what you do online and you will be better protected.
John M
Good advice Rex. These scams have been widespread this week and have been making these claims for various services. Because the worthless scammers send an image of the words many filters are not detecting these emails and they are showing up directly in one’s inbox.
joseph severson
Thank you
