How to spot email scams quickly : there are so many unsolicited and/or malicious emails hitting inboxes, here is a refresher on good practices to protect yourself against online scams:
How to identify a phishing email:
Generic email greetings
URLs that look deceptive and inauthentic
Wrong, out of date or out of place logos, design and type
How to spot a fake email:
False sense of urgency
Attachments – You need to wary of attachments and would be wise to check with the sender. Most financial and government institutions rarely include an attachment and never software to an email.
If you aren’t sure if the email is authentic, call or log in/validate from the sender
How to identify scams:
The promise of money in return for a favour
Notifications of lottery wins
Unsolicited job offers
Essentially a scam will “look too good to be true” and as the old saying goes, “then it probably is too good to be true”
Scams will often have one of 2 traits:
They will provide something back to you before you lose the rest, like a pyramid scheme.
They will take your initial money and disappear.
Always protect your identity and personal information, try not to provide the following over the phone or email but rather provide more securely if needed:
