PHOENIX — Cox Communications has decided to transition its email service and support of its Cox email to Yahoo Mail, which means thousands of customers are in the process of making the transition.
Some ABC15 viewers have emailed us with concerns. Unfortunately, scammers know this change is happening and they’re trying to take advantage.
Ken Colburn, owner of Data Doctors, says thousands of Cox email users are making the switch to Yahoo mail. “It’s not all email users all at once, they’re doing this in phases,” said Colburn.
Cox announced a while ago plans to shut down their email system and move all email users to the Yahoo platform.
The company selected Yahoo Mail because it believes they are a trusted provider that will continue to offer the advanced support and enhanced protection for the customer’s email account that they’ve had at Cox.
“(It’s) Literally shifting where your email program points to get your messages,” explained Colburn.
ABC15 Viewer, Margaret emailed Let ABC15 Know saying the switch was causing hackers to get into the system, and she was a victim. She said she had to pay $1,000 in tech support.
“Some of the scams we’ve seen are your typical phishing emails that look exactly alike, it has the Cox logo it claims it’s going to take you to the Cox website but when you actually click on anything it takes you to some weird address,” said Colburn.
Colburn says don’t be fooled if someone calls you out of the blue claiming to be with Yahoo or Cox, offering help with email migration, it’s a red flag. “We’ve heard a few people say they have received a call from someone pretending to be from Cox or Yahoo, calling to help them with the migration,” said Colburn. “That is not a legitimate thing they don’t have time for this they’re not going to do that.”
When a Cox customer makes the switch to Yahoo’s platform, they will be asked to create a new password. Colburn suggests creating a password that you don’t use anywhere else.
Remember, out of all your digital assets, your email is the most important thing you need to protect.
“If somebody gets a hold of your email accounts that’s where all the password resets for virtually everything else, you own exists and the bad guys know that,” said Colburn.
With control of your email account, the bad guys can start to take over your entire life. For another layer of protection, customers can add two-factor authentication to protect their accounts.
Cox selected Yahoo Mail because it believes they are a trusted provider that will continue to offer the advanced support and enhanced protection for the customer’s email account that they’ve had at Cox.
Cox said nothing changes with the cox.net email address. All inbox and folder information should transfer over, so there’s no need for updates. Most importantly, customers do not pay for the transfer services.
