[logicallee]

This:

   secure.verylegit.link/warez737speedupurpc.gif.pdf

(example from site) doesn't look dodgy to me at all.

I'd have no qualms clicking on it, because my browser and I can handle suspicious websites. (Especially ones ending pdf.)

Something that would give pause would be:

https://tinyurl.com/2ea2mu4?command=127.0.0.1/activate

I would think...wait a minute... I probably wouldn't click this example.

[swampthinker]

Good for you. But this is a scary looking link for the average internet browser.

[logicallee]

I disagree, because it literally says "secure.verylegit.link". Those are not negative words.

If this seemed suspicious to the people you're talking about, nobody would start a letter to them with the words, " Please permit me to make your acquaintance in so informal a manner. This is necessitated by my urgent need to reach a dependable and trust wordy foreign partner. This request may seem strange and unsolicited but I will crave your indulgence and pray that you view it seriously. " (I found this example online.)

So, I simply disagree that the example produced looks suspicious. It looks fine.

Further, I wouldn't even think twice before clicking it. The example I quoted simply doesn't look suspicious. (Because pdf is a 'safe' filetype.) I don't think it would give the average Internet user pause, either.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

The example I quoted simply doesn't look suspicious. (Because pdf is a 'safe' filetype.)

Safe?

https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-53/p...

[logicallee]

Yes, safe. I open it safely in Chrome (I just click, Chrome opens it natively in the same view) and the chance someone is going to burn a PDF zero-day for chrome on a random link I come across is vanishingly small.

You can open PDF files in Chrome. Even malicious ones. It's okay.