If you receive an unsolicited email that appears to be from AbeBooks which is requesting personal information, such as your credit card details, or that asks you to verify or confirm your AbeBooks account information by clicking on a link, then that email was sent by a " phisher " or "spoofer" and not by AbeBooks.
AbeBooks will never ask for this type of information in an email. Do not send any confidential information or click on the link.
Please note that if you did not click on the link in the spoofed email, your account with AbeBooks is fine.
Even if you did click on the link and go to the forged Web page, but did not enter any personal or login details, then the phishers will not have your account information.
Please report any suspicious emails that you receive to AbeBooks.
Here are some key points to look for in order to identify phishing emails:
In email communication AbeBooks will not ask you for :
- Your social security number or tax identification number
- Your credit card number, PIN number, or credit card security code (including "updates" to any of the above)
- Your mother's maiden name or any other password hint
- Your AbeBooks password
- AbeBooks will not request you to verify or confirm your account information
- AbeBooks will not ask you to verify or confirm your AbeBooks account information by clicking on a link from an email
Attachments on suspicious emails
AbeBooks does not send order confirmations or other unsolicited requests that require you to open attachments, nor do we permit our booksellers to do so.
We recommend that you do not open any email attachments from suspicious or unknown sources. If you do receive a suspicious email allegedly sent from AbeBooks that contains an attachment, we recommend you do not open the email, and contact us.
If you opened an attachment in the email, we recommend running anti-virus or anti-malware software.
Grammatical or typographical errors
Be on the lookout for poor grammar or typographical errors. Some phishing emails are translated from other languages or are sent without being proofread, and as a result, contain bad grammar or typographical errors.
Check the return address
We recommend that you check that the email is from AbeBooks.
While phishers often send forged emails to make it look like they came from AbeBooks, you can sometimes determine whether or not they are authentic by checking the return address.
If the "from" line of the e-mail looks like "abebooks-security@hotmail.co.uk" or "abebooks-fraud@msn.co.uk" or contains the name of another Internet service provider, you can be sure that it is a fraudulent email.
Check the Web site address
Genuine AbeBooks web sites are always hosted on the "AbeBooks" domain:
Sometimes the link included in spoofed emails looks like a genuine AbeBooks address. You can check where it actually points to by hovering your mouse over the link. The actual Web site where it points to will be shown in the status bar at the bottom of your browser window or as a pop-up.
We never use a web address such as:
- http://security-abebooks.co.uk/. . .
- IP address (string of numbers) followed by directories such as http://123.456.789.123/abebooks.co.uk/. . . .
Alternatively, sometimes the spoofed email is set up so that if you click anywhere on the text you are taken to the fraudulent Web site.
AbeBooks will never send an email that does this. If you accidentally click on such an email and are directed to a spoofed Web site, do not enter any information and just close that browser window.
Do not "unsubscribe"
Never follow any instructions contained in a forged email which claim to provide a method for "unsubscribing". Many spammers use these "unsubscribe" processes to create a list of valid, working email addresses.
Protect your account information
If you did click through from a spoofed or suspicious email and you entered your AbeBooks account information you should immediately update your AbeBooks password. You can do this through 'Your Account' by choosing the option [Update My Password] under 'My Personal Info'. For detailed steps on changing your password please click here.
Even if someone has been able to look at your account, they are still not able to see your full credit card information. However, orders can be sent from your account using your credit card so please contact us immediately if you notice any orders that you do not recognise.
However, if you did submit your credit card number to the site linked to from the forged email message, we advise that you take the requisite steps to protect your personal information.
You may wish to contact your credit card company, for example, to notify them of this matter.
Finally, you should delete that credit card from your AbeBooks account to prevent anyone from improperly gaining access to your account. To do so, click [Manage My Credit Cards] under 'My Personal Info' in Your Account. You can find more information on updating your credit card details here.
If in doubt, contact us
We encourage you to report any suspicious emails that you receive by contacting us.
