What is really in the links you are clicking on?

Another reminder that people on the internet do intend to do you harm and cause you grief and that you should always be careful and investigative when you receive emails that look strange and often are asking you to verify your information on the internet.

I received the below email this morning and thankfully the sender is not very intelligent, or intelligent enough to know how to Spoof or Mask a sending email address - that was the first Red Flag and rather obvious.  The second Red Flag is in the grammar and punctuation of course.  Then the third Red Flag is in the link itself (which was the "Click Here" to start the verification process), which I have removed the link for the protection of everyone reading this post.  By copying the link and pasting it into this post as I am writing this using internet explorer, I am able to right click on the link, to get a menu to appear, and from the menu I select "Inspect element" in order to see all of the html code behind the link.  I can now see the reference in the code and if I were to "Click" on the link it would take me to an http site that is more than likely malicious and is definitely not LinkedIn or even close to a LinkedIn site.  Always by vigilant and stay safe online.

Here is the email copy:

From: Linkedin Member [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, May 13, 2016 7:38 AM To: Turner, Timothy Subject: Linkedin Alert

 It is strongly recommended that you update your account. There are series of issues about misuse and theft of account information’s. 

Please Click Here   to start the verification process and ensure your account security.

Thank you for your cooperation