Winning Tactics to Avoid Email Scams

Email scams have flourished due to the ease and cost
effectiveness with which people can now communicate using the
internet and email. 

There are also ways to maintain anonymity when sending emails.
This has provided fertile opportunities for scammers, criminals
and spammers.

Email addresses harvested from the internet by software can be
bought by the million on CD for a few dollars. Scammers from all
over the world using these addresses can use email scams to
steal money or personal information from unsuspecting victims.

The key is to educate yourself about the different type of scams
and how they work, and also pass the information on to others to
help prevent being scammed.

The main types of email scams include phishing, lottery, advance
fee fraud and employment scams.

Phishing

Phishing email scams are designed to trick victims into
providing personal or financial information such as credit card
or logon details. You usually get a fake email that looks like
it is from organizations such as banks, financial institutions,
internet service provider or online service providers requesting
you to 'confirm', 'update' or 'validate' your account
information.

They provide a link in the email that directs you to a site that
looks similar to the legitimate website, but are designed to
trick you into entering your personal information. This
information is then on-sold or used for fraud or criminal
purposes.

Lottery

Lottery email scams start with an email that claims you have won
a large amount of money [in a lottery you didn't buy a ticket
in!]. This should send some red flags. How can you win a prize
if you didn't buy a ticket!

If you respond to the email you will be asked for personal
details to verify that you are the correct person to receive the
money. If you provide bank account details, the scammers are
likely to help themselves to any money in it.

If you provide personal information, this will be on-sold to be
used to commit fraudulent or criminal activities. Then you will
usually be asked to send money to cover taxes, customs, duties,
fees or other expenses to cover delivery of the supposed
winnings.

The scammers will pocket any money you send, as well as use the
personal information you sent for illegal purposes.

Advance Fee Fraud

It is called the advance fee fraud because the email asks for
your help accessing a large sum of money in a foreign bank
account for which you will receive a percentage, however sooner
or later you will be asked to provide money [advance fee] to
allow the deal to proceed. There will continue to be 'money
hurdles' that prevent the release of the big payout, until it
becomes obvious that it is a scam, or you run out of money.

Employment Scams

You may receive an unsolicited email offering you a very highly
paid job, where you can almost 'state your conditions'. The
email asks you to send your CV with personal details for contact
purposes.

It is just a disguised identity theft where all the scammer
wants is your personal information that will be on-sold to be
used for illegal purposes.

A variation is to offer a job that involves processing
international payments, usually on behalf of a company that
doesn't have an office in your country yet, and then once the
checks are banked into your account, on-paying the money [less
your commission] into their overseas account or by using wire
transfer.

The checks will be fraud, or you will be prosecuted for money
laundering!

What to look out for in Email Scams

There are many variations to the email scams, however be wary of
unsolicited emails that offer lucrative business opportunities,
advise you have won prizes or money, especially when you haven't
bought a ticket,  ask you to click on a link to go to a website
to logon to an account, ask for donations, offer jobs with high
remuneration, and ask you to provide personal information.

What to do to Prevent Email Scams

Don't respond to emails that request your personal or financial
information  and don't send money now on the promise of a
pay-off later. Don't click on links in emails and if you are
unsure if the email is a scam, manually type in the
organization's address, or ring that organization's phone number
that you know is genuine. The links may also contain a virus if
you click on it. Don't cut and paste the link from the email
into your address bar as the address on the link may be
different to the address where you are taken. Do use anti-virus,
internet security and firewall software and keep them up to
date. Don't respond to emails requesting your help getting money
out of a foreign country.