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[marko]

For some of us, scam mail isn't a problem, we know it's a scam before we even open it so it goes straight into the "junk" or "spam" folder, given a quick look and then trashed in bulk!.

However, it's not always as easy to spot scams, especially when the scammer's devise new and ingenious ways to trick us.   Now when we talk about scam mail, we're not necessarily talking about viruses or other attachments in emails that can cause a lot of harm, these are sometimes considered a lesser risk because we already have antivirus and malware protection at the server side of things already (and often the client side, such as your antivirus protection) and before that malicious mail get's through it's often stopped in it's tracks.  

Scam mails are those mails sent to you from so called legitimate companies such as Microsoft who are asking for information on your account because of an apparent "security alert" or from PayPal informing you that your account has been suspended due to "unusual activity".   The common factor in all of these scam mails is that they will be ASKING YOU for information, and not giving you any back.   If Microsoft sent you a mail, they would likely address you by your first or full name, or provide you with some kind of information you could relate to as being yours, similarly PayPal would do the same, as would any company.

Now even if this is not the case, you really need to ask yourself why would a provider of a service ask me for information they should already have?.   A bank, for instance, would never ask you for your credit card details or bank account number ... why?.   Because they already have it!.

Take a minute to read the tips below and safeguard yourself and your family against being the latest victim of scammers! ...

Too good to be true?
If it sounds too good to be true, it is!.   Don't be fooled by those random emails telling you that you've won an all expenses paid trip for 2 to the Bahamas for 2 weeks just because you recently signed up for a random draw.   If you did recently sign up for a random draw for an all expenses paid trip for 2 to the Bahamas then for the love of god don't delete the email but go back to the site you signed up with and verify this is the case!.   My point is for every reaction, there is an action.   So if you know you haven't asked for something, you shouldn't be getting anything!.

Pigs will also fly on the day a genuine "you've won $1 million" email comes through, again too good to be true.

Your account required verification
Sometimes we'll receive emails from certain providers telling us that in order to keep our accounts we need to verify them by sending information.   This is not so, you should never be asked for information via email.   It's true that some providers may temporarily suspend or deactive certain accounts if they have not been used for some time, but they will still not ask for information via email but will instead request you visit your account online.   Even so, such emails should still be treated with caution as they could potentially be taking you to a website that is not in fact the genuine article but a phising attempt to steal your login details.  

When being asked to go online via an email link, always make certain that the URL is what you would expect it to be, for example to verify an account on our site would take you to freewarebb.com and not freewarebbb.com (not the 3 'bbb's instead of just 2).   Make sure you check also the email address that such mails come from, such as noreply@verify-paypal.com may not be a valid email address and as such may take you to a site called verify-paypal.com which IS NOT paypal.com.

The general tone and layout of an email can sometimes be another giveaway as to it's authenticity, such as poor grammar or words which are not properly capitalized at the start of new sentences.   Anything that strikes you as odd in an email such as this should be treated with caution.

Emails from foreigners or friends requesting your help
Another classic to be avoided is when you receive an email from someone advising you of their dire situation where they are stuck somewhere or have medical bills to settle and need your help.  They will get the money back to you in a short while (yeh, sure you will!) but they are out on a limb at the moment and desperately appeal to your better nature.   These requests could possibly come from names you recognise but chances are it's an elaborate scam sent to thousands of people in the hope one unlucky sod relates to the name mentioned.   If it was a genuine request from someone you know, then others should be aware of it like their parents, sons, brothers, husbands or wifes, etc, so make sure you do some checking before acting upon anything.

Emails from free mail account services
These are generally always to be watched.   Obviously, you may have friends or family who have Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or AOL email addresses which is fine, you should recognise those email addresses but when you receive random emails from those you don't recognise asking for something or asking you to respond with your details you have to be cautious and consider it a scam.

May your armpits be infested with fleas if you do not forward this email!
Sometimes we receive mail from friends with cute content and the request to forward it on or return it back to them to show you really care about them - this is often harmless when the email itself stays within a group of friends but more often than not what happens is your friend will then send it on to 10 or 20 of their friends outwith the group, then they send it to another group of their friends and before you know it that innocent email now has your email address splattered all over it and is working it's way to the back of beyond through a chain of contacts way outwith your own group of friends.   I personally never respond to emails like this, I tell my friends I don't mind receiving them but will rarely respond to them.

Conclusion
If you receive a mail from anyone asking for information and you cannot determine whether it's a scam or not, the best advice is to go directly to the people sending it, such as PayPal, your bank, Microsoft, etc and raise a query on their website about it.   Remember also, it's worth bookmarking the sites you use often, such as online banking, paypal, ebay, etc, and then if you do get a mail asking for your attention, rather than clicking on the link in the email (and running the risk of being taken to a site which doesn't belong to them) you can simply get there by using your bookmarks!.

Stay Safe!