Learn about email scams, how to spot them, and explore the measures you need to consider to avoid them for good.
People fall victim to email scams around the globe. Cybercriminals often reach out to you, disguising themselves as solution providers you readily prefer, and use malicious tactics to make you consider the intended actions.
Scammers may use such attacks to gain access to your personal information or financial details. They may later use this data for monetary gains.
Generally, email service providers have built-in filters that won’t let such messages go through. However, cybercriminals have gotten smarter over the years and can now successfully bypass such security protocols.
So, you have to be more cautious than ever and take the necessary preventive measures to avoid potential scams.
We will tell you how you can spot email scams and suggest the necessary ways to protect yourself from potential harm.
So, without further ado, let’s get started.
To identify an email scam, you need to know what an email scam is. So, before going any further, let’s talk a bit about it.
Email is one of the most renowned communication methods preferred by businesses when interacting with their customers.
This is due to the fact that 51% of customers expect their preferred brands to reach out to them via email.
Contacting customers through email is also beneficial for brands because it’s a cost-effective way to stay in touch with the intended audience.
This is why cybercriminals generally use this method to reach out to people around the globe and try to scam them through different tactics.
People generally expect emails from their preferred brands or solution providers. So, the ones who are not careful easily fall into the trap and end up facing severe consequences.
Email scams encompass unauthorized information access, phishing, identity theft, data theft, malware attacks, and so on.
Such attacks also fuel corporate espionage. The only difference is that in these incidents, employees of the targeted firm become the victims and not the customers.
Now that we’ve talked about email scams let’s discuss how you can identify such attacks and take the necessary measures to protect yourself.
The perpetrators of email scams generally disguise themselves as legitimate brands when reaching out to you. They often demand that you consider taking a particular action, and failing to do so may lead to dire consequences.
They may ask you to share sensitive information directly or through a link provided to you in the email.
Scammers have become smarter over the years. They have learned how to bypass spam filters and can craft email messages that look so professional that it’s easier to fall into their trap.
Take the following screenshot as an example. At first glance, it feels like an email from a legitimate service provider, but upon closer inspection, you may find a few anomalies that indicate the malicious intent of the sender.
No matter how careful scammers are, they likely make a few mistakes. All you need to do is spot them and protect yourself.
Here are a few useful ways to spot email scams:
Looking for spelling and grammatical errors is one of the easiest and quickest ways to spot an email scam.
Even though company representatives are skilled at what they do, they generally leverage different tools to check their emails for spelling and grammatical errors before sending them to recipients.
When a brand reaches out to you, its reputation is at stake. Imagine a recipient taking a screenshot of an email with random grammar or spelling errors and sharing it on social media with over 5.04 billion users worldwide.
The company will have to face a severe backlash due to the negligence of one of its representatives. So, the representatives are always careful when sending out their messages to the recipients.
On the other hand, scammers are generally in a hurry to reach out to the masses to increase their chances of success. So, they won’t likely check their emails for potential errors before sending them.
So, keeping a close eye on spelling and grammatical errors may protect you from falling victim to potential email scams.
Scammers are generally unaware of the best practices when reaching out to people. So, they may use unprofessional salutations or ones that are not relevant these days.
For example, it’s less likely for you to receive an email from a renowned solution provider with a salutation that reads “Hi Dear” or a simple hello.
A professional would always use formal salutations that are on par with the industry’s best practices.
Furthermore, salutations from professionals will likely be personalized. So, they will address you by your name. This makes sense for businesses since including a recipient’s name can improve opens by 14% or more.
So, spotting an informal, odd, or generic salutation in an email may serve as a huge red flag for you.
One of the ways to spot a fraud email is to carefully assess the level of urgency associated with the message.
If the sender demands that you consider the intended action immediately, it should raise an alarm for you.
A legitimate solution provider will not reach out to you and demand that you take a particular action immediately. They will likely send you a series of emails and multiple reminders. They won’t expect an immediate response.
On the other hand, scammers would send you a single email and demand that you make quick decisions or face severe consequences.
An email from scammers would likely read like an ultimatum. They would go out of their way to remind you of the dire consequences if you failed to consider the intended action.
These emails generally have a threatening tone, which a professional would never use when reaching out to you.
No matter the situation, company representatives have to stay calm and polite because it’s their responsibility to ensure lasting customer relationships. So, they will never leverage scare tactics when conveying their message.
On the other hand, cybercriminals want to cloud your judgment with emails threatening a negative consequence.
They do this so you are unable to identify potential flaws in the way they communicate with you or detect any anomalies.
You should always check a sender’s email to verify the authenticity of an email received. Scammers generally use free email service providers, such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail, and so on.
Company representatives, on the other hand, use the official emails representing their respective brands. It’s less likely for them to contact you through a Gmail email address as a company representative.
So, keeping an eye on such details may also protect you from email scams or malicious attacks from cybercriminals.
Renowned email service providers, such as Gmail, have built-in scanners that detect viruses and malicious files.
However, you can’t completely rely on your email service provider. Some infected files may get through their scanners. So, you can never be too careful.
So, it’s best that you proceed with emails containing attachments with caution. These files may facilitate malware or ransomware attacks.
So, if an email looks a bit suspicious, try not to download or view the attachments enclosed, especially when they are files with zip, exe, or scr extensions.
It’s less likely for a legitimate solution provider to ask you to share sensitive information via email.
So, any email asking you to share your personal information, bank account number, login credentials, or any other sensitive details should always be treated with caution.
Scammers may demand that you provide the required details directly or ask you to click the link in the email.
This link will direct you to a fake company page, where you will be asked to submit the required information.
As said earlier, you need to be cautious when you detect a sense of urgency. Don’t fall victim to the scammers’ scare tactics, and always reach out to your solution provider before proceeding any further.
Scammers use different tactics to lure their victims. One of these ways is to offer rewards to recipients in exchange for considering a particular action.
At least once in your life, you must have received an email informing you that you have won a contest that you don’t recall taking part in.
Scammers may ask you to click a particular link to claim the prize or provide them with the information they ask for.
They may also say that you have won an expensive product. All you need to do is pay for the shipping and deposit a certain amount.
The best way to avoid such scams is to be careful with emails that seem too good to be true. Also, if you don’t recall participating in a contest or giveaway, it’s highly likely that the email you received is a scam.
Here are a few best practices you should consider to protect yourself:
People generally don’t take their online privacy seriously, especially when it comes to sharing their contact information.
Sharing your email address may seem like a harmless thing to do. But it may make you vulnerable to malicious attacks.
So, one of the ways to avoid email scams is to not be a part of their email list in the first place. You can do it by being cautious about sharing your contact details online or offline.
Nowadays, most email service providers have built-in filters that can detect scam emails and malicious attachments. However, the efficiency of these features may vary from one service provider to another.
Scammers are getting smarter with each passing day. The scam emails now look really close to the legitimate ones.
So, if scammers are good at what they do, they may easily bypass the security of a subpar email service provider. So, it’s best to choose a reliable option among the alternatives.
When you come across an email that seeks personal or financial information, it’s best to simply ignore it and delete it from your inbox.
A common mistake many make is replying to emails that look suspicious. This may lead to a back-and-forth of messages between you and the sender. And you never know which of their tactics may work.
So, it’s highly recommended that you don’t take any action or even consider responding to such emails.
When someone reaches out to you via email and pretends to be your preferred solution provider, simply Google the contact details of the company and give them a call.
Inquire about the email you’ve received and the action it asks you to take. This is for situations when you’re almost certain about the legitimacy of an email.
Even then, you can never be too sure. So, just reach out to your service provider and minimize the risk of being scammed.
When you receive an email containing malicious files, it’s possible that you may accidentally click on them, especially when you’re on the move.
So, it’s highly recommended to install antivirus or malware protection software on your device and keep a site backup handy.
This will be your ultimate defense against such accidents and protect you from malicious attacks by scammers.
This is your last line of defense. No matter how careful you are, sometimes scammers may get the best of you, and you end up sharing sensitive information with them.
This information can be login credentials for important digital accounts that scammers can now easily access.
Two-factor authentication protects you from such harmful incidents. Even though scammers have the login details, they won’t be able to access your accounts due to an extra layer of security.
To minimize the risks even further, you can consider multi-factor authentication, which is an absolute nightmare for cybercriminals.
In this article, we discussed how you can spot email scams and take certain measures to avoid the potential harm.
Scammers may have gotten better over time and use different tactics to get what they want, but if you’re careful, you can easily evade their maneuvers.
You should have certain preventive measures in place to avoid such scams and protect your sensitive information.
If you’ve been worried about the legitimacy of the emails you receive from time to time, the recommendations in this article may fuel your preparedness.
You’ll also receive some of our best posts today
Syed Balkhi is the founder of WPBeginner, the largest free WordPress resource site. With over 10 years of experience, he’s the leading WordPress expert in the industry. You can learn more about Syed and his portfolio of companies by following him on his social media networks.
Mobile devices have become an integral part of our lives in this digital...
Don’t miss the new articles!
