Lately I have been inundated with scam emails and have had two friends who were caught off guard and lost a couple of thousand dollars. That is why I am hitting you with so many articles on scams and their prevention. I don’t want to see another friend lose money or the use of their computer to these crooks.
No matter what email service you use, spam emails might still make their way into your inbox. Sometimes these emails set off alarm bells—but other messages from scammers are trickier to spot. If you do respond to, click on, or engage with spam emails, there are a few possible consequences.
What happens when you respond to spam emails depends entirely on the kind of spam email. Simply replying to spam emails mostly just confirms that your email is active, making you a target for future campaigns or scams. There usually isn’t a direct response from scammers.
In some cases, the spam links to a very convincing-looking copycat website. If you follow the link, anything you fill in on that website—usernames and passwords, personal information, credit card details, and transaction numbers—go right back to the scammer.
Another possibility is that the link or an attachment in a spam email will download a virus or spyware onto your computer. This download can actively record all your typing and send your information to the hacker. If you do download the software, the scammers could also find and send emails to even more victims and attack websites on the internet, in addition to stealing your personal info.
If you want to avoid these scams altogether, watch out for things like fake invoices and fake UPS or FedEx delivery notifications. Beware of emails prompting you to download or install anything, log in and change your credentials, and emails saying you’ve won something like a family inheritance, too. Scammers tend to use phrases that add urgency to trick people. So they might say you already have a virus on your computer, that you need to update your browser ASAP, or that your account is about to close right now. If you’re still unsure after looking at the body of the email analyze link spelling since even one or two “off” letters might mean the email isn’t legit.
It’s always better to be safe than sorry with your personal information. Do not reuse passwords, download an antivirus app.
