Honing Your Spidey Senses!

We’ve all gotten them. That weird email that makes our suspicions go on high-alert, yet makes our fingers itch with curiosity (Should I open? Should I delete?). It seems as if the purveyors of those suspicious, spammy emails are on the move again. The problem is, they are getting better and better at spoofing and phishing and looking like they are legit, when they aren’t.

When it comes to suspicious email, it’s always best to err on the side of caution. One moment of bad judgment and opening an email that is either spoofing or phishing can leave you with a big mess and an even bigger tech services bill. 

Companies like PayPal and other payment gateways or services will never ask for your personal information via email. Emails requesting password or account information are nothing more than phishing scams, and should be disregarded immediately.

Watch for suspicious “from” addresses. The email address should be from the company/vendor: example; [name]@”bankofamerica.com” instead of [email protected]”idc.service.com”. Also, if there’s a request to click a link to confirm your account within the email…NEVER click that link. A lot of the time, you can hover your mouse over the sender’s email address and see very clearly that it’s coming from another address. They’re getting better and better about masking the return address though, so your best bet is to go directly to your account page, log in, and see if there are any posted messages or notifications for you. The most recent one I received that really, REALLY looked legit was from Amazon. Thank goodness for those spidey senses!

This sounds like a no-brainer, but watch for misspelled words or improper use of grammar. And if the email states “Your account has been compromised,” that is a huge red flag that this request is not legit.

And lastly, when in doubt-give a shout-out. Call the company directly using the phone number you already have on record to verify whether or not the email was real or an attempt to steal your personal information. Tis’ a far better thing to be safe than sorry!