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This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 9 March 2025. For satirical news, see List of satirical news websites. This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources. Fake news websites are those which intentionally, but not necessarily solely ...
• Fake email addresses - Malicious actors sometimes send from email addresses made to look like an official email address but in fact is missing a letter(s), misspelled, replaces a letter with a lookalike number (e.g. “O” and “0”), or originates from free email services that would not be used for official communications.
A typical hoax is an email message warning recipients of a non-existent threat, usually forging quotes supposedly from authorities such as Microsoft and IBM. In most cases the payload is an exhortation to distribute the message to everyone in the recipient's address book .
Virus hoaxes are usually harmless and accomplish nothing more than annoying people who identify it as a hoax and wasting the time of people who forward the message. Nevertheless, a number of hoaxes have warned users that vital system files are viruses and encourage the user to delete the file, possibly damaging the system.
When you open the email, you'll also see the Certified Mail banner above the message details. When you get a message that seems to be from AOL, but it doesn't have those 2 indicators, and it isn't alternatively marked as AOL Official Mail, it might be a fake email. Make sure you mark it as spam and don't click on any links in the email.
AOL Mail is focused on keeping you safe while you use the best mail product on the web. One way we do this is by protecting against phishing and scam emails though the use of AOL Official Mail. When we send you important emails, we'll mark the message with a small AOL icon beside the sender name.
Scammers can use your email to target you directly. And, unfortunately, plenty of email phishing scams today are more sophisticated than the older varieties that would directly ask for your ...
Hoaxes: hoaxes attempt to trick or defraud users. A hoax could be malicious, instructing users to delete a file necessary to the operating system by claiming it is a virus. It could also be a scam that convinces users to spread the letter to other people for a specific reason, or send money or personal information.