I have noticed a lot of scam emails coming to my inbox lately and thought I should mention a few to you. Since they could very easily hurt your credit, finances, reputation, etc. you should be aware and very careful.
I have received many that were easy to spot. They were text only, looked very simple, unlike an email you would expect from a big retailer and sometimes sounded if they were written by someone whose native language is not English. One other very obvious tell with scam emails… there were several spelling errors.
For instance, I received one this morning which said, "we incorrectly specified your information in the recent invocie #8858345." It went on to say, "please see the revisions, is in the attachment and make corecctions." This one was text only. Notice the spelling errors, they addressed it to lowercase "ron" and also notice they attached a file for me to review.
Red Alert! Especially regarding the attached file. I am pretty sure I have expressed it a million times before and maybe I should again. NEVER EVER open an attachment from someone you are not expecting an attachment from. Even a friend or relative. It could be totally innocent and it could be horrible. The attachment I received was a zipped file which is even worse as it could contain anything.
I say again open no attachments unless you know the person was sending it to you.
Next, during the Christmas season I have received multiple emails from eBay, Amazon and one or two others. They sadly inform me that my orders cannot be shipped due to some sort of problem. In reality once a company has your money, especially Amazon, the product is good to go and I do not believe anything could pop up to create a problem. To solve the "problem" I will usually be requested to click a link and fill out some much-needed information. This is also a scam as the first things they will ask you for on the site is your username, password and possibly your secret question. The site can look exactly like a real business page so do not let that fool you. As a matter of fact, I got a scam email from a PayPal look alike one time that had links to the PayPal security information page, home page and all other sorts of actual PayPal affiliated pages. They can put a link to anything in a professional looking email.
And the last thing for me, which I suggest for you: I only transact purchases online with one email account. That is all I use it for. You know, presents, items we need at home…you know just stuff. That way when I get an email concerning a purchase at any other email address but that one I know it is a scam since I have never purchased anything from that address. Email accounts are free so get one for online purchases only to add one more step to your security path.
You can report an email scam, hoax, or phishing scheme to several places like the Federal Trade Commission but I imagine they have more than enough to keep them overworked. However, I do suggest you contact the company who supposedly sent it to you. I have been successful once or twice but unfortunately most times they seem very nice but do not care.
Stay safe, be careful online. They are out to get you and they make those fake emails look very good!
