Chuck's Blog

Don’t click that tiny URL unless you know and trust the sender

Tiny URL (http://tinyurl.com) is a convenient tool for trimming those long, long web addresses down to size when you want to send them to others. This is helpful because often if you paste a super-sized address into an email message, it wraps around and only part of it becomes a hyperlink, so that the recipient can’t click on it and go to the site.

However, some spammers and malware disseminators are (mis)using Tiny URL to disguise their spam sites and phishing sites, so it’s important not to click on a link with the tinyurl.com domain unless you know and trust the sender.