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What Is AOL Certified Mail?
It's the latest technology in AOL's ongoing efforts to combat
spam and online 'phishing' scams
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AOL offers an anti-phishing program that certifies authentic emailers and identifies their messages with a special icon. This helps protect members from online scammers who try to steal personal information by sending emails designed to look like they come from legitimate businesses, charities and other recognizable organizations. The service, called Certified Mail, combats these scams -- known as "phishing" -- by including a tamper-proof seal of approval on email that members have already signed up to receive. This lets you know that the mail is authentic and can be trusted. Certified Mail provides an additional layer of protection for AOL members, on top of AOL's industry-leading spam-fighting and anti-phishing efforts. Though member complaints about spam have dropped 75 percent since 2003, spammers and scammers have resorted to ever more criminal and devious tactics to get into to users' in-boxes. We're trying to stay one step ahead of them by adding Certified Mail to our spam-fighting toolkit. An email has been certified if you see the following:  
This additional choice in mail authentication offers much-needed uniformity, consistency and security for both members and commercial emailers. The Certified Mail program helps members quickly and easily distinguish important, authenticated email from companies they know and trust. It is, in a sense, an extension of the Official AOL Mail program already in place, which helps members distinguish between legitimate email from AOL and phishing scams trying to steal personal information. Phishing and online identity theft are two of the fastest-growing threats on the Web -- endangering AOL members and the Internet community at large. A 2005 survey of personal computers by AOL and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 1 of every 4 home computer users are hit by phishing attacks each month. AOL has already mounted an aggressive, wide-ranging campaign against phishing: Blocking emails that contain links to known phishing sites, preventing access to known phishing Web sites when members use the AOL software or the AOL® Explorer browser, partnering with leading anti-phishing companies, and taking legal action against phishers. The Certified Mail program is administered by AOL in conjunction with Goodmail Systems. To participate in the program, mailers must go through a strict accreditation and authentication process through Goodmail, which helps ensure they conform to the highest standards for mailing practices. Mailers then pay a fee to mark and send messages as Certified Mail. AOL Certified Mail is available on AOL for Windows versions 9.0 or higher, and AIM Mail. To download the latest AOL software, visit AOL Keyword: Upgrade. Tips for Protecting Yourself From Online Scams Stay vigilant: You wouldn't give out personal information to strangers on the street; don't do so in response to an unsolicited email, even if a link in the mail appears to take you to a legitimate Web site. Keep up-to-date: Make sure your PC's antivirus protection and firewall are all current. AOL provides these tools for free with the McAfee VirusScan Plus -- Special edition from AOL. |
Frequently Asked Questions About Certified Mail Q. Does this mean that AOL will no longer deliver commercial email from businesses that don't participate in the Certified Mail program? A. Absolutely not. AOL will continue to deliver email from any sender, whether or not they participate in Certified Mail, as long as they abide by our rules and policies against spamming our members. Q. Will not-for-profits be penalized under this new system? A. They will enjoy all the same free benefits they get today on AOL. In addition, we're establishing a separate, free program to help qualified non-profits get their mail certified and delivered as legitimate. Q: What do mailers need to do to participate in the Certified Mail program? A: The program is only open to qualified senders of email. Mailers must first go through a strict accreditation process with Goodmail Systems that shows they conform to the highest standards for mailing practices. Then mailers pay a fee to mark and send messages as Certified Mail. Q: What if I don't want to receive Certified Mail? A: Though you cannot block the Certified Mail program, you can unsubscribe from the sender's mailing list or block the domain from which they are sending you mail. AOL members always have control over their email inboxes. Visit AOL Keyword: Spam for more information. Q: What if I receive Certified Mail that I didn't sign up for and shouldn't be getting? A: Use the 'Report Spam' button on your email in-box to report this to AOL. Certified mailers have been screened and proved that they do not send spam -- but our members are the ones who decide whether they want to get mail from any sender. Mailers that generate too many spam complaints will be kicked out of the program. |
