Have I been phished by established companies?

I have many emails sometimes directed to my junk mail box by mistake. So, whenever I can, I do check to see if I have missed messages from friends or people who have responded to articles I have posted on my blogs. So, how do I tell if it is safe for me to open up the email to read? Here are some pointers I have picked up:

1) The name of the sender is usually different from that on the email address.
2) The name of sender is gibberish.
3) The subject matter promotes things that I have not requested for or have no interest in.

I also do a search of the company the email came from, eg (name of company) scam, and see what comes up. Following is a very good example:

Message from: Yahoo! Photos Subject: Yahoo! Photos Is Closing - Action Required

I do have an account there but instead of opening up the mail and clicking on the link provided that may lead me to a bogus website, I goggled, "directmail@yahoo-inc.com scam" and discovered that someone on Yahoo! Answer has the same enquiry and that indeed Yahoo! Photos request is not a scam and that they want members to move their photos and they have recommended Flickr.

I also take the time to block senders who spam. You can find out what are the big companies whose members have been targeted by phishers from this article "How to Report an Email or Web Scam" posted on Fight Identity Theft.

And if you are wondering why I should believe the information and instruction posted on Fight Identity Theft; well, I have checked them out on Site Advisor.