Email scams don’t always pretend to be large corporations; sometimes they impersonate people you know – family, friends, or even colleagues. These scams can be especially dangerous because they are working to exploit established trust.
Here are four tips for recognizing and avoiding email scams.
- Be suspicious of unusual requests. If a friend or family member suddenly emails you asking for money, gift cards, or sensitive information, be skeptical.
- Look at the writing style. Proceed with caution if you encounter unusual wording, spelling or grammatical errors, or phrasing that just doesn’t “sound like” the person.
- Stay calm. Scammers frequently rely on urgent language to drive immediate action. Do not rush to respond to the request until you determine its validity.
- Look carefully at the sender’s email address. Many email systems just show you the sender’s display name, which is easy to manipulate. The email address itself must be inspected. In most systems you can hover your mouse over the sender’s name to reveal their email address. Check the email address carefully. Frequently, the email address is entirely wrong and easy to dismiss as fraudulent. In more sophisticated scams, the email address may be only slightly different.
If you have identified the email address as incorrect, then delete the message (optionally, report as spam).
However, if after reviewing an email message, you still have some doubts, how do you proceed?
- First, it is very important to NOT reply to the message and to NOT click on any links or attachments.
- Then, reach out to the purported sender directly, such as by a phone call or text, to validate whether the message is authentic.
With a bit of knowledge and careful attention, it is possible to avoid many email scams!
