Most of us are already well familiar with the frustrations of spam: unsolicited email ads. In recent years, unwanted emails have evolved in an attempt to avoid increasingly specialized filters and wary recipients. We have put together a list of red flags to help you quickly spot emails that may be harmful to your PC and your bank account.
Suspicious attachments
Attaching files to an email is a fast and easy way to share files with your friends and family. The downside is that crooked scammers can attach files such as viruses and spyware in the hopes that an unwary recipient might download the file and infect their computer. Any time you see an email with an attachment that you were not expecting, be cautious about opening the attachment or even reading the email.
Links that don’t make sense
In an email supposedly 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 is a scam. Many scammers attempt to collect account information or even credit card numbers by posing as respectable websites looking for data about your account. These emails typically have a link to a page where you can reset your password, confirm your credit card data, or log in to access some exclusive new feature. To spot these harmful links, you simply 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 vary from website to website. If the url isn’t visible in the link, you can hover your mouse over the link and the url will be displayed in the lower left corner of your web browser.
Notifications about accounts you don’t have
Malicious emails that disguise themselves as emails from major websites are counting on their recipients actually having accounts with that website in the first place. If you get an email about your facebook account when you never even signed up with facebook, chances are very good that this is a scam or virus email.
Password reset requests you didn’t send
One of the most common email scams presently is the phony password reset. These emails claim that you recently requested 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 ly be resetting the password for in the first place. Even if you don’t see anything worrying with the link or the account data, never respond to a password reset email that you didn’t specifically request.
Sender addresses that don’t add up
An official email from YouTube.com will be sent from an email address that ends with @youtube.com. If “vanessa1997@aol.com” is sending you official updates about your YouTube account, it’s a safe bet this is also a malicious email. If your email system does not display sender data, you can change your settings to show full headers or just click a link right in the email to show all of the sender data.
Money transfer schemes
Typically from Nigerian royalty, these emails claim that there is some tremendous amount of money sitting in an account somewhere that the sender wants moved to the US before something terrible happens to it. It’s not uncommon for these emails to be all in caps lock and poor English, although there are exceptions. These emails are scam attempts, attempting to get your bank account information so that the sender can access your funds. No matter the story for the email, you shouldn’t ever share bank account information with anyone you don’t know. Newer varieties of these emails claim to be from “a member of your church.”
Suspect emails from co-workers
The most dangerous and hard to spot malicious emails are the ones sent by your friends and other contacts. Usually if you receive a suspicious email from a friend or other contact, it is either because their PC has been infected by a virus or because their email account has been compromised. If you see an email from one of your contacts that has strange characters in the subject, has attachments that you were{n’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
These types of emails can be very disturbing when you find them. If you find an email from your own account waiting in your inbox that you know you didn’t send (and you have not allowed anyone else access to your account) immediately change your password and security question for your account. After that, check out your “sent mail” folder to find out if any other emails went out that you were unaware of. Let everyone who received one of these suspicious emails know that you didn’t send the emails, that they shouldn’t open them or open any links or attachments and that you think your account was compromised. You can also let your email provider know about your worries. If this problem comes back, your machine may be infected and require virus cleanup service performed.
As users and automatic filters become more aware of these malicious emails, scammers will develop new ploys to get at your computer, bank account, and other data. 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 machine, or if you just want more information about how to avoid these problems, give Geek Choice a call any time at 1-800-GEEK-HELP (433-5435). We can help you with Virus Removal, Spyware Removal and general computer repair.
Computers and Technology
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