Have you ever wondered how to spot fake emails?
Sending fake emails is not a new trend in this world. Every day, around 11 billion emails are sent, and it can be challenging to distinguish between real and fraudulent communications. Sending a fake email is also known as “Phishing”. By learning to recognize fake emails, you can take the necessary precautions in order not to be a victim of cybercriminals and to make sure you are talking with genuine people. In this blog, you will get to know the various ways to identify fake emails. Before that let’s explore what fake emails actually are.
What are Fake emails?
Fake email is an email with malware that attempts to deceive users into disclosing important information such as login details, Social Security numbers, bank accounts, and passwords. It is one of the methods scammers use to gain quick money from you.
Several types of cybercrimes carried out are through phishing emails. Every day, each of us receives a large number of emails, many of which end up in our spam folders. But frequently, phishing emails are transmitted to our inboxes without being detected by the email software.
How to spot Fake emails?
Here are the best 5 ways you would be able to spot fake emails. You’d be shocked to know how many individuals fall for phishing schemes as a result of fake emails. The only way to prevent yourself from being a victim is to be aware of the most common techniques used by scammers to trick you into exposing personal information.
Examine the email header information to see if the sender’s address is legitimate.
The very first sign of a fake email is that the attackers appear as reputable businesses or individuals. The cyber criminal’s victim is more likely to assume the email is real and engage with it if it is presented as a reputable person or business.
Emails from legitimate companies are often sent from email addresses that include the company’s domain name after the “@” sign. Consider the case of Apple. If you receive an email from Apple, the email address will be noreply@apple.com. Scammers would try to trick the recipient by using similar random email addresses, such as noreply@appleinc.com.
Examine email addresses for deceptive domains and spellings.
Some cybercriminals are wise enough to use a generic email address. They purchase domain names that resemble the actual company’s domain that they intend to copy. They frequently add new words or alter letters/words in the original domain name. For example, they could misspell Microsoft using an ‘r’ and an ‘n’ to make it look like an ‘m’. Now, even if email recipients are vigilant, they might fail to see the difference between them.
Verify to see if embedded links go to unwanted websites.
Another indication of a fake email is unexpected redirect links. The hyperlinks included in the email must lead to the same web page as specified in the link. Scammers, on the other hand, include words that seem to take you to a legitimate website, but the hyperlinks they embed redirect you to a phishing or dangerous website instead.
If you get an email that contains links or attachments, hover your cursor over it before clicking on them. Don’t click on anything weird regarding it (such as an unusual URL). Rather, navigate straight to the source website by entering its URL into your browser.
Check whether Emails has an Unfamiliar Greeting or Salutation
Most of the fake emails used to have an unfamiliar greeting or salutation. Be aware, emails sent between coworkers frequently begin with an informal salutation. Those that begin with “Dear” or contain terms that are not usually used in informal conversation are from sources unfamiliar with your company’s style of workplace engagement and should be regarded with caution.
Keep an eye out for unusual spelling and grammatical errors.
A lot of spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors throughout an email is a red sign. Legitimate businesses adhere to strict email etiquette and editorial standards. Although minor typos do occur sometimes, it is unusual to find many errors in a single message. Such mistakes should never be overlooked.
It is easy to be fooled into believing an email is real, and nobody wants to fall into this trap. For this one must be aware of random emails they might receive overtime. One must check all the above-mentioned methods to identify if the email is fake. If it is found to be fake just don’t ignore it. You better block it at the moment. It will help you not to receive fake emails from the same person. With all that, now you know how to spot fake emails and remove them.