"Verify mail?"

noclue · 9th September 2012, 06:10 AM

I received an email with this title, and when I clicked on it I was led to the FastMail address which I use to make online purchases. I have a bad feeling about this. Has anyone else received emails which request email verification? Am I in big trouble?

n5bb · 9th September 2012, 12:11 PM

If you sign up at many websites for some service or purchase, it's common for them to send you an email so they know they have your email address correct. So that email might be titled something like "Verify email?". These emails are usually sent immediately after you sign up for the service (within one minute).

You need to look at the source of that email to verify it's trusworthiness. The best place to look is the full headers.

In the Fastmail normal web interface (http://www.fastmail.fm), open the message and click the link "Show full header" at the right.
Look down from the top to about the sixth header. You want the one which starts: X-Spam-source
- The Host is the email system which sent the email to you.
- If this is exactly the same host name that has sent you messages before which you trust, then the new message is probably OK.
- Unfortunately, many companies outsource some of these functions today, so the host name may not be the same as the name of the service you have used for online purchases.
So look down near the end of the full headers.
- You should see several headers which start with
  X-Truedomain-
- The X-Truedomain-Domain header shows the domain name which is being used for checking the trustworthiness.
- X-Truedomain-SPF and X-Truedomain-DKIM headers should both ideally show Pass.
  - If either of these show Fail (or anything other than Pass), then I would be suspicious of this email.
  - But you will find a few good emails which fail these tests due to errors at the sender, so this isn't a 100% guaranteed situation.
  - And these tests only verify the X-Truedomain-Domain domain. So you must be sure that this is a good domain you trust.
And of course always look at the spam score (X-Spam-score), which should be near the top (probably the fourth header). If the score is high (greater than 1) you should be somewhat suspicious.

Was this email sent to the same Fastmail address you use for your online purchases? Do you only use this address for these purchases, and not anywhere else? If so, then probably either the message is from one of those companies, or it has been stolen from one of them by a scammer.

Bill

noclue · 9th September 2012, 12:52 PM

Hi, Bill --

Well, here's my full disclosure: The email in question was actually in my "Junk" folder. I was preparing to delete everything in the folder when I saw that email. For some reason, I thought it had gotten into the junk folder by mistake and that it might be important. (By just looking at my stuff in the junk folder, I can't ever tell which of my three FM addresses generated the junk.) The sender was only "Mail." The subject line was "Verify email." After I clicked on the subject line, I was taken to my commercial FM account. There was no way this email was generated by any of the companies I do business with. I've done business with them so long that they know my email address.

I just now went back through my trash several times (I had almost 300 items in "Trash") so I could authenticate the sender like you wanted me to. That email isn't anywhere in my trash. Does spam automatically go into the Void or something? I noticed I didn't have any other spam in my trash, either.

Sorry to not be able to give you any more information. I did go to PayPal & Amazon today to change my password, but I don't know what damage may have been done.

9th September 2012, 06:10 AM	#1
noclue Essential Contributor Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: San Antonio, Texas USA Posts: 276	"Verify mail?" I received an email with this title, and when I clicked on it I was led to the FastMail address which I use to make online purchases. I have a bad feeling about this. Has anyone else received emails which request email verification? Am I in big trouble?

9th September 2012, 12:11 PM	#2
n5bb Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: May 2004 Location: Irving, Texas Posts: 5,964	If you sign up at many websites for some service or purchase, it's common for them to send you an email so they know they have your email address correct. So that email might be titled something like "Verify email?". These emails are usually sent immediately after you sign up for the service (within one minute). You need to look at the source of that email to verify it's trusworthiness. The best place to look is the full headers. In the Fastmail normal web interface (http://www.fastmail.fm), open the message and click the link "Show full header" at the right. Look down from the top to about the sixth header. You want the one which starts: X-Spam-source The Host is the email system which sent the email to you. If this is exactly the same host name that has sent you messages before which you trust, then the new message is probably OK. Unfortunately, many companies outsource some of these functions today, so the host name may not be the same as the name of the service you have used for online purchases. So look down near the end of the full headers. You should see several headers which start with X-Truedomain- The X-Truedomain-Domain header shows the domain name which is being used for checking the trustworthiness. X-Truedomain-SPF and X-Truedomain-DKIM headers should both ideally show Pass. If either of these show Fail (or anything other than Pass), then I would be suspicious of this email. But you will find a few good emails which fail these tests due to errors at the sender, so this isn't a 100% guaranteed situation. And these tests only verify the X-Truedomain-Domain domain. So you must be sure that this is a good domain you trust. And of course always look at the spam score (X-Spam-score), which should be near the top (probably the fourth header). If the score is high (greater than 1) you should be somewhat suspicious. Was this email sent to the same Fastmail address you use for your online purchases? Do you only use this address for these purchases, and not anywhere else? If so, then *probably* either the message is from one of those companies, or it has been stolen from one of them by a scammer. Bill

9th September 2012, 12:52 PM	#3
noclue Essential Contributor Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: San Antonio, Texas USA Posts: 276	Hi, Bill -- Well, here's my full disclosure: The email in question was actually in my "Junk" folder. I was preparing to delete everything in the folder when I saw that email. For some reason, I thought it had gotten into the junk folder by mistake and that it might be important. (By just looking at my stuff in the junk folder, I can't ever tell which of my three FM addresses generated the junk.) The sender was only "Mail." The subject line was "Verify email." After I clicked on the subject line, I was taken to my commercial FM account. There was no way this email was generated by any of the companies I do business with. I've done business with them so long that they know my email address. I just now went back through my trash several times (I had almost 300 items in "Trash") so I could authenticate the sender like you wanted me to. That email isn't anywhere in my trash. Does spam automatically go into the Void or something? I noticed I didn't have any other spam in my trash, either. Sorry to not be able to give you any more information. I did go to PayPal & Amazon today to change my password, but I don't know what damage may have been done.