Mr. Hacker said let's go Phishing

Don't be a phishing scam victim.

I'm using a real email that I received from a scammer to illustrate how creative and desperate these bottom feeders are getting. The email went to my spam folder so that made it suspicious. Sometimes legitimate email gets caught in the spam folder. In this case if was a dangerous form of a phishing scam. The email account that was used is not on record with the credit union, and I don't have an account with the credit union so that tipped me off.

Look at the grammar on the email. WAS and CAN. No email signature. What is really dangerous and sneaky about this email is the www,navyfederal,org/support link. It's a legitimate link if periods were used instead of commas hidden in the hyperlink underline. Very clever if you don't look at it real closely.

A person worrying about identity theft might click on the link thinking someone opened an account in their name or made some change to the account. Be careful with all suspicious emails. Call the institution in question if you want to make sure your not an identity theft victim.

The double edge Email

Why do we always need to send an email when a simple call can get the answer. This is one of the reasons why a person would send an email out. The person is calling you out and they want an audience by carbon copying others on the email to have a front row seat of the action.

When you receive an email that boils your blood take a deep breath and resist launching a torpedo at the coward to not be baited into playing that type of game. Instead blow off steam by gathering supporting information to defend yourself and respond back by replying all so everyone will see your response. 

Always respond back in a professional manner to teach the sender some class. Everyone on the email is reading your your response so you need to maintain your composure and professionalism.

It's so funny when you get attacked in an email with an invited audience and you vindicate yourself in front of everyone. Most times you never get a reply back from the sender. One time I only got an instant message from a person admitting their mistake. No guts to let everyone else know. That really shows the character in that person.   

The Flaming Email

I had an experience of a flaming email years ago from a contractor Mr. PMP type. He was an arrogant you know what. That contractor sent out an email to a distribution after hours to slam me on something. I was out of the office already having dinner. I had a smartphone and was composing a response and before I could send my response out I received an email from a team member responding to that flaming email defending my position on the issue. She slammed Mr. PMP with facts that put the arrogant Mr. PMP in his place. She made it easy for me, all I had to do was thank her and concur with her email and case is closed. By the way Mr. PMP did not respond back. Silence is golden. When you gain respect from your team and have a reputation people will defend you and stand by you. It's a priceless good feeling that you are making an impact on your team.

Mr. PMP never spoke to me again and avoided me. What a cry baby he can only dish it out, but when he is proven wrong he won't admit it. We don't need Project Managers that behave this way to discredit the profession by acting arrogant and unprofessional. Mr. PMP was an older gentleman that should have known better on how to exercise people skills.