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Fake AA E-mail Warning! Phishing, malware, fraud, bogus, spoof etc. (consolidated)

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Old Oct 30, 2012, 10:18 am
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AA warns of phishing attempts to secure personal information for fraudulent activity. Many look like an e-mail with an attached ticket the recipient has allegedly purchased.


DO NOT CLICK on any links, including to the attachment, and do not call any number or follow any instructions, within the e-mail.

● DO forward a copy of the email, including the header to [email protected] so that AA can investigate further.
1. Keep the original subject line in the forward, and include the full text body.

2. Include the complete e-mail header if possible, -- Email programs often display abbreviated headers, but this link will show you how to see most full e-mail headers.
Link to aa.com page on phishing and fraud attempts

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Fake AA E-mail Warning! Phishing, malware, fraud, bogus, spoof etc. (consolidated)

 
Old Feb 9, 2010, 2:56 pm
  #46  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,916
Originally Posted by Efrem
That's a bit drastic. Modern e-mail programs show the target of a link when you hover over it, before you click. Granted, you have to think to look, but to me that's a small sacrifice compared to giving up all the other stuff (which often has content, not just appearance).
Eudora (OK, I'm old skool) warns you when you hover over a link whose actual link is different from the text.
anabolism is offline  
Old Feb 14, 2010, 3:50 pm
  #47  
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 5,651
Do you know of promo 182700, or is this a fraud?

Greetings from American Airlines AAdvantage(R) Program



Welcome to the American Airlines AAdvantage(R) program, the first and largest loyalty program in the world! We are proud to inform you that today, American Airlines launch a new reward program. Please take the 5 questions survey. For your effort you will be rewarded with $50 & 25,000 miles.

Your $50 & 25,000 miles bonus code is AA-AAdvantage182700
Please log in to https://www.aa.com/login/loginAccess.do ,and follow the reward steps.

Thank you very much for your help and your patient and hope you will enjoy the American Airlines reward program in the future

Sincerely,
American Airlines Reward Department

Please do not reply to this auto-answer message
best is offline  
Old Feb 14, 2010, 3:53 pm
  #48  
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Originally Posted by best
Greetings from American Airlines AAdvantage(R) Program



Welcome to the American Airlines AAdvantage(R) program, the first and largest loyalty program in the world! We are proud to inform you that today, American Airlines launch a new reward program. Please take the 5 questions survey. For your effort you will be rewarded with $50 & 25,000 miles.

Your $50 & 25,000 miles bonus code is AA-AAdvantage182700
Please log in to https://www.aa.com/login/loginAccess.do ,and follow the reward steps.

Thank you very much for your help and your patient and hope you will enjoy the American Airlines reward program in the future

Sincerely,
American Airlines Reward Department

Please do not reply to this auto-answer message
What do you think? Isn't it obvious?
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Old Feb 14, 2010, 3:56 pm
  #49  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: AA EXP, 1 MM, AC, HH Diamond, Marriott Silver, Hertz 5*
Posts: 4,010
Check where the link actually goes--I'd bet it's not on aa.com's domain.

Spelling and grammatical errors are also usually telltale signs of a scam. The people behind these often are not geniuses.

Originally Posted by best
Thank you very much for your help and your patient and hope you will enjoy the American Airlines reward program in the future

Last edited by videomaker; Feb 14, 2010 at 4:07 pm
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Old Feb 14, 2010, 3:56 pm
  #50  
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Las Vegas
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Posts: 6,634
"American Airlines launch a new reward program" -- "Reward Dept" ... total BS.
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Old Feb 14, 2010, 4:01 pm
  #51  
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Merritt Island, FL
Programs: AA EXP 4MM, SPG Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 445
Originally Posted by videomaker
Check where the link actually goes--I'd bet it's not on aa.com's domain.
The link sends you to an address other than AA's, but it looks similar (aa.2010.reward domain). I'm sure an unsuspecting user could fall for it.
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Old Feb 14, 2010, 4:02 pm
  #52  
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Originally Posted by demkr
"American Airlines launch a new reward program" -- "Reward Dept" ... total BS.
These criminals (happily) don't even bother to make an authentic confidence trick. Where did this one originate?

Thank you very much for your help and your patient
BiziBB is offline  
Old Feb 15, 2010, 1:54 pm
  #53  
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: MO
Programs: AA EXPLT
Posts: 430
Is an email from [email protected] legit?

I just got an email from [email protected] that says I have a travel voucher as a result of a canceled flight in Dallas due to weather. Is this a legit email or scam? I did have this cancelled travel due to snow in Dallas. I am a bit worried because it has an embedded link to "my voucher" and an attached .txt file it wants me to open.
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Old Feb 15, 2010, 2:01 pm
  #54  
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Originally Posted by akersnl
I just got an email from [email protected] that says I have a travel voucher as a result of a canceled flight in Dallas due to weather. Is this a legit email or scam? I did have this cancelled travel due to snow in Dallas. I am a bit worried because it has an embedded link to "my voucher" and an attached .txt file it wants me to open.
My rule: if you have to ask, then don't provide information. W/that said - there are AA emails that utilize "wecaare" in the address line.

Were you due an email or paper voucher? I'd call AA for more information about your voucher.
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Old Feb 15, 2010, 2:03 pm
  #55  
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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8703e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

If you have any doubt, I would call AA and ask. If AA cancelled your flight, I should think that you would be entitled to a refund to your original form of payment, not a voucher valid only for future travel on AA.
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Old Feb 15, 2010, 2:44 pm
  #56  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 155
The .txt file sounds suspicious. I would assume that, if AA sent a "voucher" as an attachment, it would be considerably more formatted. Also the long email address sounds strange. Check the header of the email and see what server originated the message, and calling AA is probably not a bad call.
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Old Feb 15, 2010, 2:49 pm
  #57  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Also check for grammatical and spelling errors in the e-mail. Scammers usually aren't too literate. And make sure any links are actually going to the domain shown, and not somewhere else.
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Old Feb 15, 2010, 2:58 pm
  #58  
 
Join Date: May 2001
Location: LAX AA:EXP,3.1mm, CO 800k
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I agree with an earlier poster....call American and see what they know.
If you don't get the answers that make you feel comfortable then delete
the message.
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Old Feb 15, 2010, 3:16 pm
  #59  
Moderator: American AAdvantage
 
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Time to make an inquiry, as you have only shared the "originating" address with us (which could easily be spoofed). And particularly if you are not due a voucher. But, I have a dozen e-mails, most replies from Customer Service, that originate at [email protected].

BTW, what does your antivirus software say when it checks the attachment?

This has been merged into the original Fake AA E-mail Warning! Phishing, malware, spoofs etc. (consolidated)

To reiterate from other posts, if one suspects malmail:

Originally Posted by aa.com
What To Do If You Receive A Phishing Email thread.

...

If you receive this type of email, you should not click on any links, open any attachments, call phone numbers listed or follow any instructions in the email. Instead, forward a copy of the email, including the header to [email protected] so that we can investigate further.


Originally Posted by AAWEBmaster
What To Do If You Receive A Phishing Email

American Airlines will never ask you to perform security-related changes to your account in this fashion or send emails to collect user names, passwords, email addresses or other personal information. Anyone who receives an email claiming to be from American Airlines, that asks for account information, should consider it fraudulent and an attempt to obtain personal information that may be used to commit fraud.

If you receive this type of email, you should not click on any links, open any attachments, call phone numbers listed or follow any instructions in the email. Please visit http://www.aa.com/phishing for more information.

AA.com Webmaster

Originally Posted by akersnl
I just got an email from [email protected] that says I have a travel voucher as a result of a canceled flight in Dallas due to weather. Is this a legit email or scam? I did have this cancelled travel due to snow in Dallas. I am a bit worried because it has an embedded link to "my voucher" and an attached .txt file it wants me to open.

Last edited by JDiver; Feb 16, 2010 at 9:57 am Reason: add / edit
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Old Feb 15, 2010, 4:21 pm
  #60  
Moderator: Alaska Mileage Plan
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 12,272
Originally Posted by akersnl
I just got an email from [email protected] that says I have a travel voucher as a result of a canceled flight in Dallas due to weather. Is this a legit email or scam? I did have this cancelled travel due to snow in Dallas. I am a bit worried because it has an embedded link to "my voucher" and an attached .txt file it wants me to open.
If we're voting, I say it's legit. I've received CS replies from that address. Also, the txt file may have been used so the voucher could be read be a non-HTML mail handler or it may be been created by the OP's mail client.

It's best to balance security with common sense.
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