It's entirely possible that the email was unconnected to the wifi download. I get SPAM emails daily though I never use wifi. Legitimate sites get hacked and their email lists are used for phishing.

All of my email accounts have a SPAM folder and you simply put any weird email in that. Opening an email doesn't cause a problem, but you should NEVER click on a link or attachment. Any email that asks you to do so is suspicious. NEVER forward an email that you think is suspicious. Pick up your phone and call the sender directly. I never send an attachment without calling to let the receiver know to expect an attachment.

Here is a LINK to internet security tips from professionals.

Thanks very much for the advice. We did notify the friend right away (fortunately, without (forwarding anything), just in case, but in the process of getting the software for my husband, our young friend had taken over his i-Pad--no doubt as a kindness to "the elderly," done all the necessary things for him, and in the process given someone his birth date and email address. He doesn't know if she gave them to the coffee shop so as to use its WiFi, or to the company offering the free software.

Knowing that public WiFi can be dangerous, I assume that his email address had been intercepted and used in a phishing attempt or perhaps to install malware. Many years ago, I got the Hiloti virus by clicking on a PDF notice purporting to be from UPS about being unable to deliver a package--just on the day I was expecting one. Wouldn't have clicked on the PDF if it weren't for that. The minute I clicked on the Adobe PDF file that claimed to contain the details of what to do to claim my package, poof, it disappeared and my PC subsequently went haywire.

I really learned my lesson, and now we are careful to check with the sender if anything is the least suspicious.

I didn't know it could be dangerous for us to forward such an email, but would have phoned the friend in advance to make sure she didn't click on anything.

Full scans using both Norton and Trend Micro's House Call failed to detect anything dangerous, so with that and your kind answer, I guess I can sleep tonight! Thank you for the link to the tips, too. I will read and save them.

If the friend gave some one your email and DOB I would not let them mess around on the device as they know not what they are doing. I have a junk address for stuff like that and never give my main address. Mary

They didn't deliberately give it to any particular person, they were just apparently not aware that the Wifi in coffee shops is public and therefore not safe for sending certain types of info. My husband is a bit naive about the potential dangers of the Internet and had I been there, no one would have had the chance to get at his email address for a bad purpose. He assumed that our much younger friend would know whatever was necessary to be safe, but he was wrong. Probably a good lesson. And a junk address such as you have Mary, sounds like a good idea.

Happily, this time we only got phishing (or perhaps some other type of malware) emails from two unknown very unusual (to us) and very long foreign names and avoided clicking on them.

Mike C, Thanks. In response to your final question: I wouldn't and I didn't, but there was one occasion when I was advised by someone I consulted to click on nothing in the email, but to forward the whole thing to a site I have forgotten, which was a place that gives advice and helps people with problematic emails. I later received a report from the site about the degree of potential danger in the email in question. I probably have a bookmark for that site and am hoping that I do, but don't have time right now to sort through the gazillions of entries in my bookmark toolbar.

It now occurs to me that said site may well have belonged to a company referenced in the fishy email. This happened several years ago.

If you didn't click on the link in that email, you're fine.