Suspicious Email Received

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  hlandsman · Member · Jul 13, 2015 at 1:40 pm

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  I’ve received an email message purporting to be from WordPress.com. It asks me to verify my email address by clicking on a button (“Verify your email address”) that’s embedded in the message and says that I’ll have my website put on hold if I don’t do it. Is this a legit request, or is it from a hacker?

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  darrellschulte · Member · Jul 13, 2015 at 1:53 pm

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  Hi hlandsman,

  These are the types of emails that WordPress would send out. It’s probably a malicious phishing attempt.

  Account notifications sent to this address include:

  • Forgotten password assistance
  • Updates from blogs you Follow
  • Receipts and notifications for WordPress.com upgrades

  You will also receive notifications about activity on your blogs, such as:

  • Likes and comments on your posts
  • Comments held for moderation
  • New Follows from other WordPress.com users

  https://en.support.wordpress.com/email-notifications/

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  hlandsman · Member · Jul 13, 2015 at 2:03 pm

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  Thanks for the prompt reply. Do any of the WordPress “happiness engineers” agree?

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  auxclass · Member · Jul 13, 2015 at 2:16 pm

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  Yes WordPress.COM sends an email to verify the email address – the only requirement for an account / blog is a valid email address – if you open a new account or change your email address you will need to verify it

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  hlandsman · Member · Jul 13, 2015 at 3:25 pm

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  Thanks for the prompt reply. Do any of the WordPress “happiness engineers” agree?

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  brookedot · Member · Jul 13, 2015 at 10:57 pm

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  Hi hlandsman,

  It’s always good to be cautious when getting emails claiming to be from a service you’re not expecting. As others have mentioned we do send out an email requesting the verification of an email address when you first sign up and you must confirm a valid email address when you update your account settings.

  A few things to note.
  1) check that the email is from donotreply[at]WordPress.com
  2) Check the link location is going to a WordPress.com account often times these type of scams will go to random locations
  3) check the design of the email, does it match the look and feel of other emails you’ve gotten from WordPress.com in the past
  4) Have you recently updated anything on your account (it doesn’t look like you have) If so you may be expecting this type of message.

  We do take these type of scams seriously, therefore if you do think if it’s a scam could you forward the email to help@wordpress.com and we can take a look.