Phishing Scam Alert: Did You Receive a Fake 'Delta' Flight Confirmation?

You open your work email in the morning and see a confirmation from Delta for your roundtrip flight from New York to California.

Unless your employer is sending you on a last-minute business trip, you never booked a flight to San Fransico, so you panic that your business expense card was compromised.

But do not click on links or attachments in the email to find out more information. It's a known phishing scam that Delta Air Lines has alerted its customers about on its website.

"We have received reports from customers of fraudulent emails, social media sites, postcards and Gift Card promotional websites claiming to be from Delta Air Lines," Delta states on its website. "These messages may claim that you have purchased a Delta ticket, a credit card has been charged, order has been completed, an invoice/receipt is attached to an email or website may offer free flights for following or liking an account. If you see or receive one of these messages, do not open attachments as it may contain potentially dangerous viruses or harm your computer."

The Office of the Attorney General in Connecticut hasn't received any complaints about the scam from residents, according to Communications Director Susan Kinsman, but she said that "this is no different than any other email scam where the scammers are trying to get you to click on a link so they can gain access to your personal information and/or install malware."

Avon Patch received one of the emails March 4 confirming a coach flight traveling from "NYC - Kennedy" to San Francisco on March 11 and returning from Los Angeles to "NYC - Kennedy" on March 15 that we never booked.

The first three sentences also had links that seemingly went to delta.com/itineraries, asking you to click on the hyperlinks if you needed to "contact Delta or check on your flight information,"  to "exchange, reissue and refund electronic tickets," or "take control and make changes to your itineraries." While the hyperlink we included above does redirect to Delta's flight confirmation page: https://www.delta.com/mytrips, the link in the scam email could be a virus.

The email Avon Patch received came from sgfqhG@ongeek.com, not an official Delta email address. The subject line also said "DELTA CONFIRMATION," as opposed to "Delta Air Lines" like an official email from the airline. There also was no Delta signature or copyright in the email like "© 2013 Delta Air Lines, Inc. All rights reserved."

Rest assured, Delta says on its website that the emails don't come from Delta and the airline has not charged your credit card as the fake email may indicate.

"These messages did not originate from Delta, nor do we believe that any personal information that you provided us was used," Delta says on its website.

Delta advises customers to do the following if you received an email like this:

• Change the PIN and/or password for your SkyMiles account and "monitor your account for any misuse."
• Don't click on the links "in an email message, unofficial page or open any attachments."
• Delete the email and "disregard the website promotional claims."

The Federal Trade Commission also has tips on its website about dealing with phishing scams.

"Complaints about fraudulent emails can also be sent to the FTC," Kinsman said.

Delta posts information about known scams on its "Alerts & Advisories" page, which you can view by clicking on the link provided. The state Office of the Attorney General also regularly updates the public on reported scams.