Email Security, Spam Filtering, and Support Updates

Recognizing Phishing, Fraud, and Email Scams

There has been a significant increase not only in spam and junk email in general, but also in a specific category of fraudulent email messages known as phishing scams.

Phishing messages are designed to create fear, urgency, or panic in order to convince you to take immediate action. That action may be clicking a link, entering your email password, providing credit card information, downloading a file, or disclosing other personal information.

Many phishing attacks are created by organized criminal groups whose purpose is to steal information, compromise accounts, and commit financial fraud. These groups may have substantial technical resources and can create emails and websites that appear convincing, professional, familiar, or even personalized.

You may have seen fraud warnings from banks, credit card companies, shipping companies, government agencies, and other online services. Email service is no different. Criminals target email users because email remains one of the easiest and most effective ways to reach large numbers of people.

Common phishing claims

A phishing message may claim:

• Your account will be suspended
• Your mailbox is full
• Your payment failed
• Your billing information must be updated
• Your password must be verified
• You must confirm or validate your account immediately

The purpose of these messages is almost always the same: to pressure you into reacting emotionally before thinking critically.

How scammers make messages look convincing

Modern phishing campaigns may use:

• Official-sounding language
• Company logos and branding
• Professional-looking websites
• Familiar names or addresses
• References to billing, password, or mailbox problems
• Threats of account suspension, closure, or penalties

Some messages may imitate banks, government agencies, streaming services, shipping companies, technology companies, or Pacific Internet itself. A message may look official at first glance even when it is completely fraudulent.

Why email scams are so common

Email scams continue to increase because they are inexpensive to send, can target millions of people at once, and unfortunately remain effective. Criminals do not need every recipient to fall for the scam. They only need a small number of successful victims to make the campaign profitable.

It is important to understand that email itself does not guarantee that a message is truthful, legitimate, or safe simply because it appears on your screen. Criminals can forge names, addresses, logos, and websites in an attempt to appear trustworthy.

The single most important defense against phishing is healthy skepticism: pause, examine the message, and do not let urgency or fear make the decision for you.

Remember S.T.O.P.

Pacific Internet encourages customers to remember this simple anti-fraud guideline:

Email was designed in a more trusting era

One of the most important things to understand about email is that internet email was originally designed in a much more trusting era. Basic email technology allows portions of a message to contain almost any text the sender wishes to display.

As a result, scammers can make messages appear official or familiar even when they are not. Unless you understand what you are looking at, it can be easy to focus on the familiar-looking part of a message while missing the actual sender information.

Actual email address vs. Display Name

An email message can show two different identity fields:

1. The actual email address
2. The Display Name

The actual email address is the real account identifier, such as:

The Display Name is free-form text shown to the reader for convenience. It may be a real name, a company name, a department name, or anything the sender chooses to type.

For example:

In these examples, the words Pacific Internet, Pacific Billing Department, and Support Team are only display text. The actual sending email addresses are the addresses inside the angle brackets.

This is one of the most common phishing techniques used on the modern internet. Attackers rely on users noticing the familiar display name while overlooking the actual sending address.

Pacific Internet impersonation examples

Pacific Internet has observed phishing campaigns using deceptive display names intended to impersonate Pacific Internet staff or departments. These messages may contain Pacific Internet logos, references to billing problems, password issues, mailbox limits, or threats of account closure.

A fraudulent message may appear to be from something like:

The important question is not only what name appears on the message, but what the actual email address is.

If a message claims to be from Pacific Internet, but the actual sending address is not from the pacific.net domain, treat the message with extreme caution.

Secure websites, HTTPS, and the browser address bar

Many phishing attacks attempt to direct users to fraudulent websites that imitate legitimate companies. These websites may look convincing and can sometimes closely resemble the real website they are pretending to be.

For this reason, it is important to pay attention not only to the content of the page, but also to the browser address bar at the top of your web browser.

What is HTTPS?

Modern secure websites normally use HTTPS, which encrypts the connection between your browser and the website. Most browsers indicate this with a padlock icon or other security indicator near the website address.

However, it is important to understand that HTTPS by itself does not guarantee that a website is trustworthy. Criminals can also obtain HTTPS certificates for fraudulent websites.

The important question is not simply whether the site has a padlock, but whether the website address itself is correct.

These are examples of legitimate Pacific Internet website names.

A phishing site may instead use addresses designed to look similar at a quick glance, such as:

These addresses are not part of the pacific.net domain even though they may contain the word "Pacific" somewhere in the name.

Criminals rely heavily on people reading only part of the address instead of carefully examining the full domain name.

If you receive an alarming email asking you to log in, update billing information, or verify your account, consider manually typing the known website address into your browser instead of clicking the link in the email.

Before clicking links or entering information

• Carefully examine the actual sender email address
• Be suspicious of urgent threats or demands
• Do not enter passwords after clicking links in unexpected email messages
• Do not download unexpected attachments
• Verify websites carefully before logging in
• When in doubt, contact the company directly using known contact information

Awareness, caution, and critical thinking remain the best protections available.

How to Use the Spam Filtering System

With the rise in spam, phishing, and impersonation attempts, Pacific Internet has improved how email is filtered and organized. The goal is to keep obvious junk and dangerous content away from your main Inbox while still allowing you to review and correct the system when needed.

Some messages that previously appeared directly in your Inbox may now be automatically sorted into folders below your Inbox. If you believe mail is missing, first check your Spam, Lists, and Updates folders.

Mail folders

If you think mail is missing

Check the following folders:

• Spam
• Lists
• Updates

Your mail may not be missing. It may simply have been sorted into a different folder.

If you prefer to see Inbox, Lists, and Updates as a single combined view rather than as separate folders, see Fine-tuning Thunderbird on the Email Client Support page.

To mark a message as spam

• In webmail, use the Junk button if available.
• In a phone or desktop mail app, move the message to the Spam folder.
• If your mail program has a Junk or Move to Junk command, you may use that as well.

Moving unwanted mail to Spam helps the system learn from your decisions.

If a good message is in Spam

If a legitimate message was incorrectly placed in Spam, move it to the NotSpam folder. This tells the system that the message was incorrectly classified and should be treated as legitimate.

The NotSpam folder is the recommended rescue path because it works no matter what mail program you use.

If a newsletter or automated message belongs in your Inbox

If a message in Lists or Updates is something you want to see directly in your Inbox, move it back to your Inbox. Repeating this for future messages from the same sender helps the system learn your preference.

Why some mail goes to Updates

Updates is intended for useful but automated mail, such as:

• Shipping confirmations
• Receipts
• Account notifications
• Password reset messages
• Appointment reminders
• Automated notices from companies you do business with

Why some mail goes to Lists

Lists is intended for newsletters, mailing lists, group discussions, automated digests, marketing lists, and similar bulk messages. These messages may be legitimate, but they are usually not personal one-to-one correspondence.

Spam deletion

Messages left in the Spam folder may be automatically deleted after 30 days. Please check your Spam folder occasionally to make sure no important message was incorrectly placed there.

Technical Support Policy Update

Pacific Internet provides technical support on a best-effort basis for issues directly related to the operation of our email service.

To ensure support resources remain available for all subscribers, standard technical support interactions are generally limited to approximately 15 minutes per issue or session.

What email support normally requires

In most cases, configuring email requires only the following information:

• Your email address
• Your password
• The incoming mail server name
• The outgoing mail server name

Our support staff will make every reasonable effort to help customers configure and use the email service successfully.

What falls outside normal email support

Some issues fall outside the normal scope of email service support, including:

• General computer operation and training
• Operating system problems
• Virus or malware removal
• Installation or troubleshooting of unrelated software
• Repair or recovery of damaged or heavily misconfigured devices
• Problems caused by third-party systems, settings, applications, or equipment

Modern computers, smartphones, and software environments vary significantly. In some cases, Pacific Internet staff may determine that a customer's device or software configuration requires assistance from a local computer technician or support provider beyond what can reasonably be provided during a standard support interaction.

While we always strive to assist customers as fully as possible, Pacific Internet reserves the right to conclude or defer support sessions where sufficient progress is not being achieved, where the issue falls outside the scope of the service, or where additional third-party technical assistance is recommended.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we work to provide timely support for all subscribers.

Compromised Account and Abuse Prevention

Pacific Internet continuously monitors for unauthorized or abusive use of customer email accounts in order to protect our subscribers, our network, and the reputation of our mail systems.

If an account appears to be compromised or is used to send spam, phishing messages, malware, or other unauthorized email activity, Pacific Internet may immediately suspend outbound email functionality for the affected account as a security precaution.

What usually happens

• Incoming email delivery will usually remain active so the customer can continue receiving messages.
• Outbound email sending and related sending functions will be temporarily disabled until the issue is resolved.

How outbound sending is restored

Customers must contact Pacific Internet technical support to restore outbound email access. Restoration generally requires:

• Verification of account ownership
• A password reset or password change
• Reasonable assurance that affected devices or software have been secured

These measures are necessary to prevent continued abuse, protect the reputation of our mail systems, and maintain reliable email delivery service for all subscribers.

Pacific Internet reserves the right to maintain restrictions on accounts that continue to exhibit suspicious, abusive, or compromised behavior.

Questions?

If you have questions about your Pacific Internet email service, please contact Pacific Internet support directly at support@pacific.net or (707) 468-1005.