Anyone suffered after they ignored a message that they thought was a phishing attempt, but was real?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m bouncing off of this thread

where a potentially suspicious email insisting that the OP login and enter personal information, may, in fact, be legit.

Has anyone ever suffered anything substantial (suspended bank access, suspended driver’s license, repossession/foreclosure, grade of F in school, or something similar) because they received a message that screamed “scam!” but was actually legit and they were actually supposed to respond?

e.g.

Joe: “So, what happened to your BMW?”
Bill: “Funny story. I got an email two months ago that claimed to be from my bank and it said that I needed to go to a website and confirm my employment and checking account information because of some new policy regarding auto loans. I figured that it was just crooks trying to scam me so I didn’t respond. It turns out that it was actually from the bank and the bank proceeded to repossession after I didn’t respond for 30 days, and by the time I found my car missing they had already sold it.”
Joe: “Bummer, man! You gonna buy another?”
Bill: “I’d like to, but not through that bank!”

2

My local telco used to be Qwest. Now they are Century Link. I kept getting emails from a company called Century asking me to login to the new site and pay my bill. I assumed that is was some sort of scam as they had no references to Qwest in their emails.

After about three months, collections called. That same day, I finally got a glossy post card in the mail describing the change in company name. I told them why I didn’t pay them and they understood and removed the late fees.

3

Since the OP is looking for shared experiences, let’s move from GQ to IMHO.

samclem, Moderator