Fighting Phishing: How to Spot Email Scams

Each day your inboxes are flooded with email after email, some from people you know, others from companies of which you are familiar. Some emails that make their way into your inbox are typical and expected, while others are so outlandish that they would be foolish to even think twice about. A free trip to the Caribbean just for clicking the link and providing this, this, or that? No thanks, too good to be true! But what about the ones that fall in between the obvious scam and the potentially serious? Maybe it’s a familiar company (even one you use) with odd or not so common messaging. Maybe it’s a link to a review an account issue that requires your login credentials. Either way, it’s becoming harder to decipher what are fake and legitimate emails and websites, especially when privacy, login credentials, money, company networks, and data are on the line and at risk.

This act of trying to get users’ personal information is often referred to as “phishing” and occurs very often in today’s day and age. Unfortunately, there is no single technique to identify such fraudulent phishing messages due to the levels of variation. However, keeping an out for these key characteristics can help you when deciding whether or not to trust the message.

how to spot email scams infographic