Ubuntu

what to do after clicking on a link in mail scam?

Asked by vfmla

Hello all,

I received a blank email from a contact of mine, solely with a link in it (of the domain "www.pocakos.hu"). Though I suspected, I thought of the likelihood of its authenticity, and clicked on it. The link didnt open, showing "problem loading page" error.
When I asked the sender about it, he replied that this email was sent to all his contacts, and he changed his mail password after the incident, and that it were good not to click on it.

So, now, what action can I take to avoid any harms (prevent any intrusion/access to any data on my desktop or anything personal)? how far do I need to worry about it as an Ubuntu 12.04 user?

many thanks for any help and best greets!

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Warren Hill
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vfmla (bernuce) said : 		#1

..I should possibly add that I also kind of "downloaded" it, too...the link had a (.php) ending, and my mail program had shown the option to download it. I clicked on download. this time something with ".html" ending was downloaded, and when I clicked to open it, again the browser returned "problem opening page".

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Thomas Krüger (thkrueger) said : 		#2

If the browser offered you to download the file, it was sent with a wrong MIME type. Then, the browser does not process the content in any way and just stores the file in the Downloads folder.

That means, nothing happened. You can be happy again. :-)

Just clean remove the downloaded file from the Downloads folder and that's it. If you are unsure, clean the whole folder.

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vfmla (bernuce) said : 		#3

thank you so much Thomas for your informative reply, and sorry, for I just realized that I confused things a bit while narrating the situation..

I forgot to mention that there was an attachment, too.

the link in the body of the email was ending with ".php" , and when I clicked on this link, it didnt open, like I wrote before.
then I clicked on the attachment (clicked on its name), and the browser then downloaded this as "html". when I clicked on it, it did not open, either.

windering if all is still safe from harm? :))

many thanks again for your help!

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Best Warren Hill (warren-hill) said : 		#4

There are two main kinds of threat from the internet

1. Phishing attacks are where someone pretends to be someone else and asks for private information such as bank details. From what you have told us it's not this.

2. Installation of Malware. The web site you went was probably trying to do this but is unlikely to have succeeded. Firstly there is a lot less Malware written for Linux, either because there a less linux users, or because its much more difficult to install. No software can be installed without permission. If you have a password set for your account, which you should have as ubuntu asks for one when you install, and you did not enter your password you are safe.

The other recipents of this email may be in trouble however; If they use Windows.

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vfmla (bernuce) said : 		#5

thank you very much Warren, your information has been really very useful and clear!