Everyone receives junk mail. Automated messages sent out in the hundreds of thousands that clutter your inbox with offers of discounts, cheap bank rates, and unmentionables only appropriate for behind closed doors. But what if you received an e-mail that looks like it belongs in your inbox? That Nigerian prince seems very sincere and that other one about PayPal needing to verify my account looks legit.
Unfortunately, these are examples of classic scams designed to steal your money and your personal information.
There are a few things to look out for when spotting these fake e-mails. Look closely at the reply-to address and you may see that although it came from what looks like a PayPal address, the reply is going to a generic Gmail or Yahoo account. A legitimate email from a professional company will always come from a verified user@company.com email address and have their replies sent back the same way.
Unless it’s from a person or company you know and trust, always suspect that an email asking for ANY personal information is a scam.
We at Fairoaks IT are experts at determining spam and fraudulent emails. If you ever have a question on an email, please give us a call and we can help you make that determination! You can also find more information by visiting the DOJ website at http://www.justice.gov/spam.htm.
