Phishing and Scam Email Warning

Some of our clients have received phishing emails (scam emails) about their hosting, domains or mailboxes. The scammers copy the look of normal service notices to get people to click a link and enter their login or payment details.

Examples of recent scam emails

Every scam looks a little different, and they change over time. These are two recent examples that concerned clients sent to us.

What to look out for

Before you click anything in an email, check these:

1. A spam tag in the subject. Our servers scan incoming and outgoing mail and, depending on your mail settings, may add a tag such as ***SPAM*** to the subject. Some well-made scams still get through, so the other checks matter.
2. The sender’s name. If you don’t know the sender, read the email more carefully.
3. The sender’s address. Check the domain after the @. Our emails only come from istartcloud.com (general and billing mail), istartcloud.net or servername.istartcloud.net (server notices) and istartcore.com (anti-spam filtering messages). Scammers can fake a sender address, so a familiar domain isn’t proof on its own.
4. A generic greeting. “Dear Customer”, or the wrong name, is a warning sign.
5. Spelling and grammar mistakes. Many scam emails have them. Some are perfectly written, so good spelling doesn’t make an email safe.
6. Pressure or false comfort. Scams either rush you or reassure you, and both are meant to get you to confirm your details through their link.
7. Where the link goes. Hover your mouse over a link without clicking, and most email programs show the real URL. Only click if it’s a site you know and trust.
8. Attachments. Phishing emails rely on links, but other scams send malware and ransomware as attachments. Don’t open one unless you expected it from someone you trust.

How to protect yourself

1. Check before you click. Use the points above on any email that asks you to log in, pay or confirm your details.
2. Use your own links. Type the address yourself or use a bookmark you saved. Our addresses are istartcloud.com or www.istartcloud.com (our website), my.istartcloud.com (client portal, billing and support), servername.istartcloud.net (if you have direct access to a server) and istartcore.com (if you use our anti-spam filtering service).
3. Turn on your browser’s safety warnings. Every major browser can warn you before you open a known malicious site. Check that the setting is on.
4. Look in your client portal. Every important account, domain, hosting, billing or suspension notice we send is also in your client portal at my.istartcloud.com, under History in the left-hand menu. The exception is automatic notices such as resource usage warnings, which come straight from the hosting server. For those, check that the sender’s address ends in istartcloud.com or istartcloud.net.
5. Ask us. If you’re unsure about an email about your account, billing or domain, don’t click anything in it. Open a support ticket, email us or send a WhatsApp message, and we’ll tell you whether it came from us.