Fake emails have been encountered by any Internet user. Switched compiled a list of signs that allow you to identify a fake email.
1. Requests for personal information
If the letter contains a request to send a social security card number, a bank account number or a PIN code, and for residents of our country – a tax number, then this is a scam.
2. Typos or spelling errors
Although the authors of fraudulent letters have mastered the tricks of deception, they usually have difficulty with spelling. Such letters often contain errors and typos. If the letter looks suspicious from a grammatical point of view, it is probably a fake.
3. Links in email
Business emails very rarely contain links to websites. Almost always, such links lead to fake or infected web resources. An email with links can safely be sent to the trash.
4. “Market research” asking for personal information
Another typical example of a fake email is an invitation to participate in a research program or a notification of winning a competition. In all these cases, the user is required to provide various types of personal data. Usually, this is an attempt to fraudulently obtain information that the scammers are interested in.
5. Investment advice from random people or companies
If the email contains investment advice, such as an offer to buy or sell some stocks, it is most likely a scam. Fraudsters hope that users will listen to their advice so that they can profit from the rise or fall of the rates.
6. Attachments in emails from strangers
This trivial advice is worth repeating once again: do not open attachments from strangers, even if the sender is a bank or insurance company employee. In almost all cases, such letters are fakes that contain infected files.
7. Emails without words
Blank emails that sometimes arrive to users are actually images that, when clicked, take the user to a scam site or an infected web resource. It is best to simply ignore such emails.
8. Outdated information
Sometimes scammers can quite convincingly disguise themselves as technical support representatives for a company, but they forget that the information in the letter may no longer be relevant. If you are asked to click on a link in connection with a well-known event that has already taken place, you are looking at a fake.
9. Prohibition phrases
If the email contains phrases like “verify your account”, “you won the lottery” or “if you don’t respond within an hour your account will be closed”, it is 100% a scam and should be deleted immediately.
10. General greetings
It cannot be said that all letters with general appeals are fake, but messages that begin with “Dear members” or “Hello, friend” should be treated with special attention. Nadezhda Balovsyak
