Protect Yourself From Email Scammers
Most of us are already very familiar with the frustrations of spam: unsolicited e-mail ads. In recent years, unwanted e-mails have evolved in an attempt to avoid increasingly specialized filters and wary consumers. We’ve put together a list of red flags to help you quickly spot e-mails that may be harmful to your PC and your wallet.
Suspicious attachments
Attaching files to an email is a fast and simple way to share files with your friends and co-workers. The downside is that unscrupulous scammers can attach files like viruses and spyware in the hopes that an unwary recipient might download the file and infect their computer. Any time you receive an email with an attachment that you weren’t expecting, be cautious about opening the attachment or even reading the email.
Links that don’t make sense
In an email that claims to be from Yahoo, a link to a specific page on Yahoo’s site appears. So why does the text of the link not begin with “http://yahoo.com”? Because it’s a scam. Many hackers attempt to gain account information or even credit card numbers by posing as respectable websites looking for information about your account. These emails typically have a link to a page where you can reset your password, confirm your credit card information, or log in to access some special new feature. To spot these bad links, you will need to look at the url: the address of the page that is being linked to. All urls begin with “http://” or “htpps://” and from there differ from website to website. If the url isn’t visible in the link, you can hover your mouse over the link and see the url in the lower left corner of your web browser.
Emails about accounts that you don’t have
Malicious emails that mask themselves as being from major websites are banking on their recipients actually having accounts with that website in the first place. If you get an email notice about your facebook account when you never even signed up with facebook, the odds are pretty good that this is a scam or virus email.
Password reset requests you didn’t send
One of the most common email scams currently in circulation is the fake password reset. These emails claim that you recently made a request for a new password, and direct you to a webpage where you can enter your “old” account name and password. You may be able to spot these emails by the link urls or because you don’t have the account that you would theoretically be resetting the password for in the first place. Even if you don’t see anything wrong with the link or the account information, never respond to a password reset email that you didn’t specifically ask for.
Sender addresses that don’t add up
An official email from YouTube.com should be sent from an account that ends with @youtube.com. If “joey5683426$$@ytmail.com” is sending you important updates about your YouTube account, it’s a safe bet this is also a malicious email. If your email system hides sender information, you can change your settings to show full headers or usually click a link right in the email to show all of the sender information.
Money transfer plots
Frequently claiming to be from Nigerian royalty, these emails claim that there is some tremendous amount of money sitting in an account somewhere that the sender wants transfered to the US before something terrible happens to it. It’s not unusual for these emails to be completely in caps lock and poor English, although there are exceptions. These emails are phishing attempts, attempting to get your bank account information so that the sender can access your funds. No matter the pretense for the email, you should never share bank account information with anyone you don’t know. Newer varieties of these emails claim to be from “a member of your church.”
Bizarre emails from contacts
The most dangerous and difficult to pick out malicious emails are the ones that come from your friends and other contacts. Typically if you get a suspicious email from a friend or other contact, it’s either because their PC has been infected by a virus or because their email account has been compromised. If you find an email from one of your contacts that contains strange characters in the subject, has attachments that you weren’t not expecting, links to a file sharing site, or otherwise looks different from the emails you’re used to from that person, take the time to contact them before clicking on any links or downloading any attachments.
Emails from yourself (that you didn’t send)
These types of emails can be disturbing when you find them. If you find an email from your own account sitting in your inbox that you know you didn’t send (and you have not given anyone else access to your account) immediately change your password and security question for your account. Next, check out your “sent mail” folder to see if any other emails went out that you were unaware of. Let everyone who received one of these suspicious emails know that you did not send the emails, that they should not read them or click any links or attachments and that you suspect your account was compromised. You can also let your email provider know about your concerns. If this problem comes back, your machine may be infected and require virus cleanup service.
As users and email filters become more aware of these malicious emails, scammers will develop new schemes to get at your computer, bank account, and other information. The best weapon against these attacks is a healthy dose of skepticism, though even vigilant users can fall victim to scams and viruses. If you believe you may have a compromised email account or infected system, or if you just want to learn more about how to avoid these problems, give a professional a call.
The author of this article works at a nationwide Computer Repair company. At Geek Choice we solve computer problems such as: Slow computer, Virus Removal, and much more.
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