Cox customers are occasionally targeted by fake emails appearing to be from Cox. These phishing emails — pronounced "fishing" — may have different formats. However, all claim to be from Cox and some may even look official. In many cases, customers are being targeted in order to gain specific information. Cox has not and will not send any email to customers requesting verification of any account information.
If you receive a phishing email, Cox recommends that you delete it. These emails are fraudulent and do not originate from Cox. Do not provide the requested information under any circumstances.
Identifying Fraudulent Email
The following approach is often used in a phishing email.
- Information is requested due to a bogus system failure or other claim.
- The request usually asks for one or more of the following information types.
- Your current or maiden name
- Your primary or secondary email address
- Your account password
- Other personal or account information
In general, any email you receive requesting personal information is likely to be some form of fraud. Never provide username and password information by email to anyone. Cox will never ask users to verify account information by email. Still, you must always use good judgment in reviewing items that arrive in your inbox. It is an unfortunate reality that thieves and hackers continuously bombard internet users with fraudulent email. Cox employs the latest technology and methods to filter potentially destructive email from reaching our customers; however, some still get through.
There is no failsafe method for identifying fraud. However, Cox never collects personal information from customers via email. If you get an email asking for you to provide account information, credit or banking information, or login information, you can be sure that it is not from Cox. In some cases you can see the mailto or return email address is not a valid Cox email address, such as "From: Admin@cox.net [mailto:dalinsler@adelphia.net]." Below are common characteristics of phishing schemes.
- The thief tells you to act quickly in order to avoid some negative consequence, such as account termination.
- There are embedded links in the email that take you to a website that looks similar to your service provider or financial institution because it includes all or part of the company name. Forms on these sites ask for personal information.
- Spelling errors are often used in email subject lines to help avoid Internet Service Provider (ISP) spam filtering and your email spam filter.
Handling Fraudulent Email
Do not follow or click on any embedded links. Delete the email from your Inbox and empty your deleted items folder so that neither you nor anyone else who accesses this email account acts on this email.
You can report phishing emails targeted at Cox customers by sending the email as an attachment to phishingreport@cox.net. If the phishing email originated from a Cox customer, meaning a Cox IP, it should also be sent to abuse@cox.com.
Note: All suspect phishing email must be forwarded as an attachment. Do not just forward the message.
You can also notify the authorities by reporting the incident to the Federal Trade Commission at http://ftc.gov/complaint or by calling 877-438-4338 (877-ID THEFT).
Fraudulent Email Protection
Always be vigilant when receiving emails from any company with which you do business. Treat requests for personal information with suspicion. Cox offers an additional layer of protection in the form of email spam filtering. Spam filtering is on by default; however, if you have turned off email spam filtering for your cox.net email addresses, you should consider turning it back on. This allows the Cox filters opportunities to stop these emails from reaching your Inbox. Should you see an email that you suspect, below are some safety guidelines.
- Be wary of email messages asking you to act quickly to avoid negative consequences, such as account termination.
- Most web browsers and email clients will display the actual link. Carefully examine these embedded links in email messages that take you to sites appearing to be your service provider or bank. Examine the logo and other trademarks to ensure they are legitimate.
- Take caution when completing forms on web sites that ask for personal information.
- Watch out for spelling errors. These are common on fake sites and emails. They are meant to avoid detection by spam filtering measures.
- Do not click on links in unsolicited emails.
- Delete suspected fake email promptly.
- Protect your personal information at all times.
- Change your passwords frequently.
- Bookmark Cox.com, Cox.net, and Support.Cox.net. These are valid Cox URLs.
Cox provides information on our customer support site that warns customers about phishing schemes. Our Email Security and Internet Abuse teams identify characteristics of these emails to apply filters. While it is notoriously difficult to locate and prosecute internet thieves, Cox supports authorities in prosecuting these criminals to the full extent of the law.
