Do you dare to click 'unsubscribe' in a newsletter?
- Q and A
- 12 September 2023
- Edited 12 September 2023
- 1 min
- Managing and growing
- Secure business
Your mailbox is overflowing with unwanted newsletters. You want to get rid of them, but are afraid that by ‘unsubscribing’ or ‘unsubscribing’ you will click on a harmful link. Find out how to safely get rid of those emails.
Cybercriminals trick you with fake newsletters from trustworthy businesses or organisations. They place malicious links in such an email. Do you click on the unsubscribe button of a fake newsletter? Then you may unknowingly install malicious software, or malware, on your computer or phone.
It also happens that a criminal pretends to be a helpdesk employee and sends you a message or calls you after you have unsubscribed. Who then says you clicked on a malicious link and supposedly wants to help you fix it. This is how the criminal tries to steal your data or money.
Check the link
Do you doubt the reliability of a sender, for example because you do not know the email address? Then hover your mouse arrow over the link to ‘unsubscribe’. This will show you where the link leads to. If it is a strange (in Dutch), do not click. You can also type in the url of the website of the business that supposedly sends the newsletter in your browser, without clicking in the email. There you can check whether the newsletter really comes from that business. Or check the Fraud Helpdesk (in Dutch) to see if there have been reports of fake newsletters in the name of this business.
Block the sender
Do you not trust the newsletter? Then block the sender. You can do this in your email account. Your account will block messages from that email address from then on. Your details will still be in the sender's system. You can solve this by unsubscribing via the contact details on the sender's website. If that business or organisation really did send the newsletter, they can delete your data.
