Email Safety: Avoid Being Scammed!

This morning I opened my email and had what looked like a message from a service I use that said “payroll confirmation.” I opened the email, and then clicked on the attachment. Instead of payroll confirmation, my computer froze up. The attachment let a virus into my computer, I was the victim of a phishing attack! After our IT person cleared the virus attack, I sat down to write this.

Email scams are designed to get your information and use it for financial gain. They range from trying to hack your computer to get the information or to hold your information hostage for a blackmail payment to straight-up asking you for your personal information or money.

The sensitive personal information you should not share includes:

  • Full name

  • Date of birth

  • Place of birth

  • Social security number

  • Email and physical Address

  • Phone number

  • Bank or financial account information

  • Pin codes

  • Card expiration dates and security codes

  • Driver's license or passport number

  • Your employer, club affiliations, and memberships


PHISHING

The attack I described above is known as “phishing.” This is where a person trying to hack your computer or phone will send you a message that seems legitimate but is not. Once you click on the attachment they provide, they can access your device and any valuable information on it. There are warning signs, though. They include:

  • Is there something fishy about that email address? Look to see if the sender and the reply address are the same. If not, it is not legitimate. Make sure the email is correct, and not just close. Is it yourbank.com, or is it yourbank22.com? Hover your mouse over the sender's name without clicking on it. Does it match the sender or is it something that does not sound quite right?

  • Is the subject something that tells you to act immediately? Does it threaten that something bad will happen by the deadline? It is likely that this is just a way to trick you into clicking on the attachment before you have the chance to think twice.

  • When was it sent? Remember, if you get an email that says it is from your job, it is unlikely that it would have been sent around 3 am or 4 am, unless the place where you work is doing business at that time.

  • Is the email addressed to you, or does it say, “Dear Sir” or “Dear Valued Member”? If the email were legitimate, the company would know your name.

  • Have you ever heard of the company? It may not exist and just be a scam front.

  • You were singled out for a “special offer.” This is not real, do not fall for it.

 

SPOOFING

Spoofing is like phishing, it is when an email claims to be from a known, trusted source or legitimate business but is not. The email will often have a link for you to click to either “confirm” sensitive personal information or fill in that information. Legitimate companies will almost never send you an email telling you to confirm your information. If you are afraid the email is real, check with that company before you click the link. Rather than click, call the bank or whatever company the email claims to be from to verify that the email was sent, and what information is needed, but do NOT call the number provided in the suspicious email.


 

PLAIN OLD-FASHIONED SCAMS

Click image to watch a short video on TikTok about scammers pretending to be the IRS.

  • Sorry, a member of a foreign royal family is not going to email you and ask for your help holding on to a large deal of money. Do not ever share your bank account or other personal information with a stranger! Even if it did happen, you may be helping them commit a financial crime.

  • Scammers often ask for payment in the form of gift cards or for you to wire them money. If you are offered a deal where you will get a big return for wiring money or purchasing store gift cards, you are being scammed.

  • That beautiful stranger who contacts you for help is not who they say they are, they are preying on you.

  • An email asking you to do a survey is just trying to get your personal information and is especially dangerous if they are offering to pay you or give you a prize for that survey.

  • If you did not enter a lottery, you did not win a lottery.

  • The IRS does not send official notices through email. They also will not arrest you.

  • Always remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it is!

 

To report scams or other forms of identity theft or fraud, visit https://www.arkansaslegal.org/consumer and click on the appropriate report fraud links.

 
 

AUTHOR: HELEN NEWBERRY, STAFF ATTORNEY FOR THE CENTER FOR ARKANSAS LEGAL SERVICES

 
Amber Quaid