Electronics

[cotton4me]

I receive weird email messages from time to time trying to get me to change information on Paypal or Facebook.  I don’t have any of those accounts and figure they're random messages being sent out to catch anyone who answers.  I also use various email accounts for different things. 

Yesterday I did an online transaction with my bank.  This morning I find an email from the bank saying I needed to update some information.  However, the email address they used was not the one my bank has on file so I knew it was bogus.  It freaked me out that they knew I logged into my bank yesterday.  

My question is - - how are they getting this information?  I use Norton Anti-virus software and Trusteer.  Is there something else I should be using?

[jackthebear]

I don't know the answer, it could be random, could be anyone of the thousands of tracking software that is on the web,  I don't use Norton but use some of the antitracking software* that is available like Ghostery.

Let's see if any of the computer geeks weigh in here.

*not the correct term, I will have to find it

[gardenman]

A lot of it's random. I get stuff from Bank of America fairly often and I don't have, and have never had, a Bank of America account. They figure if they send out a million e-mails one or two might hit. (Probably more actually. There are a lot of naive people out there.) I'm afraid there's not a lot you can do to prevent this stuff from happening. There have always been crooks on the prowl looking for an easy mark and the computer age makes it much easier for them. Very often the crooks are out of the country so even if caught, there's no real risk of being prosecuted.

As long as you're using good security software, are a smart comptuer user, and use safe computing practices (keeping software updated, routine scans for malware, not clicking on someting that's too good to be true, etc.) you should be fairly safe.

[cotton4me]

Thanks for your replies.  I appreciate it.  I guess all one can do is remain viligent.  

[2blonde]

Cottonball, it wouldn't hurt to run a virus scan on your computer.  The fact that the last email you got came from "your bank" right after you had been to their website makes me think you may have spyware on your computer.

[cotton4me]

---

@2blonde wrote:

Cottonball, it wouldn't hurt to run a virus scan on your computer.  The fact that the last email you got came from "your bank" right after you had been to their website makes me think you may have spyware on your computer.

---

_______

Thanks for your reply.  I ran Norton virus scan right after it happened but it didn't pick up anything.  That's why I wondering if there's another program that might pick up things Norton might miss.