Okay, I’m pretty savvy and regularly check the scam-buster websites, but this one almost got me. I received an email from Bank of America, where I have accounts. It’s completely professional, with their logo and everything, and it’s from onlinebanking@bankofamerica.com I use their online banking stuff all the time.

Basically, it says that for security reasons, I must log on to https://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/update.jsp which looks, from the address, like a secure Bank of America webpage. (But it’s not.) Further, it says that if I don’t log on and update, my access to online banking will be suspended. I don’t want that.

So, without clicking on the link in the suspect email, I went to B-of-A's website and on their CONTACT page found an email address to forward suspicious email: abuse@bankofamerica.com They promptly replied that the message was fraudulent.

Don’t get suckered in. Never reply to email that you’re not expecting. If Bank of America had needed me to update information, they would have told me to log in to my account in the usual way, not via a link in the message.

Rather than click on a link in a suspicious email, if you’re curious about some unsolicited message, check out these websites:

www.ScamBusters.org  One of the oldest, one of the best, their byline is "Internet Scams, Identity Theft, and Urban Legends: Are You at Risk?"

www.FBI.gov  That’s right, the FBI. They’ve got descriptions of all the latest scams, and you can sign up to receive email alerts.

www.OnGuardOnline.gov  This is the Federal Trade Commission’s anti-scam website… Lots of good info here!