How to Identify Spam and Phishing Emails
All too often we come across companies that fall victim to email scams. So here are a few practical tips to help you identify — or at least question — whether an email is legit. Let’s get started.
The sender (“From”)
- You don’t recognize the sender’s email address. Not always a problem, but stay cautious until you’re sure.
- The email comes from outside your organization and isn’t related to your job.
- It’s from a familiar source (a coworker, vendor, or partner) but something seems unusual. We’ve seen cases where a vendor suddenly asks to change payment details when that’s not normal for them.
- The sender’s domain is suspicious or misspelled.
- It’s from someone you don’t know or do business with.
- It’s unexpected and contains links or attachments you weren’t anticipating.
Who it was sent to (“To”)
- You were copied on a message along with several other people you don’t know.
- You were copied along with a large batch of people you don’t know.
Links
- You hover over a link and the address shown doesn’t match the text. It might say
https://portal.office.com, but hovering revealshttp://ms-scam.yhx9-43.com. - The email contains only a link or attachment with no other information.
- The link address is misspelled — for example,
http://braiintek.com.
Note: some companies use link-protection systems that rewrite link addresses to test them when clicked. If yours does, hovering will be a less reliable way to spot a malicious link.
Time of day
- The email arrives at an odd hour.
Subject line
- The subject doesn’t match the contents of the email.
- It’s a reply to something you never sent or requested.
Attachments
- The attachment doesn’t make sense or isn’t relevant, and you weren’t expecting it.
- It’s a risky file type, like a
.zipor.exe. - It’s a PDF or DOCX that only contains links to outside sites.
The body of the email
- Are you being asked to click a link, open an attachment, or call someone to avoid a consequence or gain something of value?
- Is it out of the ordinary, or does it have bad grammar or spelling errors?
- Do you just have a bad feeling about it? Are you second-guessing whether to open the links or attachments?
- Is it threatening to release information or images about you?
What to do
If you get an email you think might be spam or phishing, report it to your IT department right away so they can check it out.
If your company is struggling with spam or other IT issues, give Braintek a call at 281-367-8253 or reach out here. We’re an IT service and support company that helps small and mid-sized businesses across the Houston metro and Dallas–Fort Worth with their computers, network, email, and security.