Links From Emails Not Working

I use the mail program that is included with Mavericks. A lot of times when I click on a link that is included in an email, Safari opens up but can't connect to the page because the URL starts with "click." I try to modify it by deleting the "click" part, but it still won't work.

Is there a setting I'm missing somewhere?

1. Don't click on links in emails unless it's from some you REALLY, REALLY trust. 'Tain't safe.
2. Thy may be bad URLs.
3. Reread number 1.
4. Reread number 1.

MacInWin said:

1. Don't click on links in emails unless it's from some you REALLY, REALLY trust. 'Tain't safe.
2. Thy may be bad URLs.
3. Reread number 1.
4. Reread number 1.

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MacInWin I appreciate the wisdom of what you say but the practise of sending links in emails is pretty much a given these days. Including the email notifications I receive for threads I have subscribed to on this forum.
Having said that I just did a search of my emails for, Message Contains "Click" and I can't find any URL links that start with click...
Thumpernator what sort of links are these? Just curious

Well, to each his own. I never, ever click on a link, even one from this website. If I want to go there, I note which forum, then go there on my own. I guess I'm just a suspicious old cur. My FIL once called me because his PC had slowed. He ALWAYS clicked on every link. I got his machine, it had 7,000+ infected files on it. Took weeks to get it all eradicated.

I suspect that the "click" links from the OP are advertising and somebody in the middle is getting money for his clicks, but I can't find "proof" of that. Rule #1 still applies.

These are links from places like my Credit Union, Lowes, Georgia Carry Inc, etc. They are all from trusted sites.

I placed an online order from Best Buy, got an email from them with the confirmation info. It had a link to check on the status and it came up with that "click" stuff. I've also seen this on my iPad.

Thumpernator said:

I placed an online order from Best Buy, got an email from them with the confirmation info. It had a link to check on the status and it came up with that "click" stuff. I've also seen this on my iPad.

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This is starting to sound a bit odd, I dont use Safari much and I don't subscribe to any of the mentioned sites so what happens if you copy and paste the link into Safari or a different browser?

Thumpernator said:

These are links from places like my Credit Union, Lowes, Georgia Carry Inc, etc. They are all from trusted sites.

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They LOOK like they are from places you can trust. And so far, you've been lucky.

Rule #1 applies.

But I'll leave it to you and Rod to figure it out.

Rod Sprague said:

This is starting to sound a bit odd, I dont use Safari much and I don't subscribe to any of the mentioned sites so what happens if you copy and paste the link into Safari or a different browser?

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Works the same way with Firefox. If I hover my curser over the link the URL will display but I can't copy and past it. The displayed URL shows the word "click" at the beginning.

So when you right click on the link you dont get "Copy Link"??

Rod Sprague said:

So when you right click on the link you dont get "Copy Link"??

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Didn't try the right click. Did that and yes, got the Copy Link. Here is what the link looks like. I deleted a long string of numbers and such at the end of the URL.

Redirect Link

Rod Sprague said:

So when you right click on the link you dont get "Copy Link"??

Click to expand...

Didn't try the right click. Did that and yes, got the Copy Link. Here is what the link looks like. I deleted a long string of numbers and such at the end of the URL.

click.emailinfo2.bestbuy.com

Hard for me to duplicate without the long string of numbers but I suspect they are identifiers particular to you. It may well be that there is a third party at work here like a market research site. Try copying the whole address, paste into your browser and delete the click part an return.

Rod Sprague said:

Hard for me to duplicate without the long string of numbers but I suspect they are identifiers particular to you. It may well be that there is a third party at work here like a market research site. Try copying the whole address, paste into your browser and delete the click part an return.

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Doing that at least goes to the main site. It did not go to the page within that site for the information the link was for. I tried it on the Best Buy email. It was supposed to show me the status of my order, but just went to the Home Page for Best Buy.

I only get this "click" thing on my Apple stuff. Doesn't do it on my Windows machine. That's why I wondered if there's something going on with the Mac and iPad operating systems.

Rod Sprague said:

Hard for me to duplicate without the long string of numbers but I suspect they are identifiers particular to you. It may well be that there is a third party at work here like a market research site. Try copying the whole address, paste into your browser and delete the click part an return.

Click to expand...

In addition to the above when I paste your example in a browser "click.emailinfo2.bestbuy.com" it takes me to a search page and this is the result I get;
click.emailinfo2.bestbuy.com | WOT Reputation Scorecard ...
https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/click.emailinfo2.bestbuy.com‎
WOT scorecard provides crowdsourced online ratings & reviews for click.emailinfo2.bestbuy.com.

So I defer as usual to my betters, MacInWin is probably correct some sort of third part collecting info on you, not exactly phishing but close to it.

Bet you guys are right. Thanks for the help. I wonder if the link is supposed to give them info and then redirect me to the correct page? Kinda looks that way.

Thumpernator said:

Bet you guys are right. Thanks for the help. I wonder if the link is supposed to give them info and then redirect me to the correct page? Kinda looks that way.

Click to expand...

Yep, nothing like a healthy dose of paranoia.