so i've been sMailing back and forth with a user, when i suddenly noticed this text at the top of the message:

now, i know there is always a warning about phishing at the top of the page, though i don't think it really needs to be there all the time. but this particular message i've quoted above is different; i've never seen it before and i am curious as to what caused it to show up. the conversation doesn't contain any mention of passwords and it is certainly not a scam, so why am i being told it might be a scam and i shouldn't give out my password? is there some keyword that makes this message show up? i'm very confused.

It tends to show up whenever I Smail back and forth with someone for a long time or extended period.

that's odd because we've only been messaging for about 6 hours, with extended breaks between each reply. i've had conversations last much longer and faster than that without getting that notice.

Did you happen to use the word password at all? I know whenever I get a password for a CW shop I get that notice [edit] Nevermind I didn't read the whole OP. It still probably just picked up on a certain word or something; it's pretty harmless I think.

Did either of you post a link? That message tends to show up, without fail, every time I post a link in sMail - which I do frequently, because I use sMail to commission and approve art.

no links, but i did include an image, though i'm not sure if that's the culprit because i've sent messages with many images before and never gotten the notice. it's odd, i really don't think i've done anything differently than usual - i might think words like "sent" or "pay" could trigger the warning, but i've often sent messages discussing such things in the past with no such warning.

Are you sending particularly long messages? I found that I definitely got those messages moreso when I had longer replies, or sent smails.

the messages aren't particular long, no, and they're nowhere near as long as some other messages i've sent. it's all very peculiar.

I tend to get it on and off... not sure what word triggers it but I think just certain words do o.0

It is rather pointless to have though.... x.x

It's been around three years since some neopets-type social engineering scammers have been on Subeta and got their sorry asses frozen to hades, but they were using links and images. Not too long before that we were subjected to an extended DDOS attack. So while it may seem to you to be like overkill now, it was perfectly sensible when it was implemented.