How to stay safe from email scams

Since email became a thing for everyone, there have been people who use it to try to get money (or other things) out of others.
Many of the companies that provide our email are doing their best but would you recognise a scam email or email scams, if you received it?

Emails have been and remain a very popular way for hackers and nefarious computer users to try to get you to download some code onto your computer or click on a link.

Going to a fake website will often ask you ‘sign in’, but what you’re really doing is giving them your email, username and a password.

What ideally you need to do, is not click on that scam link.

Of course to do that, you need to know what to look out for, to find these types of messages.

This is a screenshot of my junk email folder.

These are messages that my email provider has automatically picked up on as being fake or unwanted messages.

Remember that your email company will do the best that they can, but things are changing fast, and you need to be vigilant as well.

Things for you to look out for:

Note: These are general guidelines to follow, and not a complete list. Remember – not all emails are fake!

Is it from a company that you know?

If the sender is a company that you’ve never heard of, then think carefully before clicking on any links.

Also be aware of the difference between the company name and product names.

For example Windows is a product from Microsoft, Windows will never be contacting you… 😅 Though it’s unlikely that Microsoft will either – at least not asking you to click on a link. They will normally send your reminders.

Check the spelling of the company name.

Perhaps it is a company that you know or have heard from – eg Mcaffee. You can see a few emails from them above – first they are McAfee. Note that both the M and A are capital on the real company.

Next check if they have added characters – for instance extra dots or dashes, or names.

Above you can see that I’ve got emails from Mcafee Securite (not Security) and Partner. The real company is known simply as McAffee.

The same goes for the email address the message was sent from:

support@amazan.com | support@amazon.ie.com | support@amazon-e.com

They are all examples of how at first glance an email address can look correct, but none of these are.

If you don’t see the full email address, click on the name (it’s fine to do that), or hover over it – carefully read what’s actually there, not just what you’re assuming.

Do you actually have an account or use that company?

In some cases it’s really easy to know that these are fake.

For example – I don’t have an account with McAfee. Therefore they would never send me a message stating that my account is due to expire.

Are you expecting an email?

Do you know when subscriptions are due for renewal? So many of these messages say it’s about to expire, make sure that if it is a company that you use, you know when they are likely to contact you.

Next Steps

The best tool that you have is to have in your cyber security essentials ‘pack’ is common sense when using the internet.

Be cautious of suspicious websites, emails, and messages. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Trust your instincts and stay safe online.

Don’t trust links in unknown or unexpected emails. Instead go to your web-browser and enter the address for the company. Sign in to check what’s happening with your account.

Better safe than sorry

For more tips take a look at my YouTube channel – Michelle Kaye

Other Data Security Posts

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How to stay safe from email scams (current post)

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