Planet Antares Scam | Avoiding E-mail Scams
There are hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of email scams that come delivered directly to your inbox. Avoiding them is as easy as hitting the delete key, but some people have trouble determining that an email is really a scam. Perhaps the email appears to have been forwarded by a friend, contains a tragic story, offers something for nothing or asks for something of little value.
Certainly, one of the most popular email scams is the “419″ or “Nigerian” scam. This email scam includes an email from a person you have never met who is looking for someone “honest” to help them out of a bind.
The sender claims to be a widow, an orphan, or a prince or princess of some small principality. The sender has come across a large amount of money and wants to move it out of the country, but needs to conduct a wire transfer, first to a legitimate US bank account, and then (with your help) to another “safe” account. If you can help, your reward will be some generous portion of the money being transferred. Simply provide your banking information and the first transfer will occur.
Another “help” scam comes in the form of a request from a friend. The email states that the friend is traveling out of the country and has been robbed. The friend asks you to send money immediately.
Another popular scam includes the clickable link that will take you to a Web site, or enable you to download some desirable software package for free. Along the same lines, an email that purports to come from a bank or online organization like PayPal states that your account has been disabled, and to re-enable it, you’ll need to visit a particular Web site and log in.
These scams rely on the recipient to respond, either to a request for assistance or to click on an embedded link, visit a Web site or download software. Unfortunately, providing your banking information will simply result in your bank account being drained, or worse, you may transfer money to the email sender as “proof” of your trustworthiness or to cover some “up-front costs” related to the scam.
Visiting an untrusted Web site or downloading “free” software (which is actually “malware”) can often result in the loss of control over your computer, or the loss of your personal information, including credit card numbers, PINs, passwords and bank account information. Malware may contain keystroke loggers, which record and report to a third party everything you type. It may also contain a “root kit” or a “backdoor” into your computer, allowing your computer to be controlled by someone else.
To avoid these email scams, don’t respond to calls for help from people you don’t know. When a friend asks for help, call or generate a new email (don’t reply to the one you’ve received) and ask if the request for help is legitimate. If you can’t reach your friend, look at the email “header” to see where the email actually came from. If you start to see email addresses, servers and domains you’re not familiar with, chances area good that the request is phony.
If you’ve received notice that your bank account has been compromised, contact your bank directly by phone or visit in person. Banks usually don’t correspond with customers via email for important matters like account security. Be suspicious of any email that asks you to visit a Web site and log in using the same information you use to access your bank account(s).
Configure your email reader to ask before opening any attachments, and don’t visit a Web site by clicking on a link that’s been embedded in an email. If you have to visit a Web site, retype the link or copy and paste it into a new browser window before visiting it. You can also hover your mouse over an active link without clicking on it, then look at the browser’s status bar to see where the link will actually take you. If the link contains a redirection or takes you to a different Web site, don’t click on it!
Finally, don’t download “free” software from sources you don’t recognize. Keep your anti-virus and anti-malware software up-to-date on your computer, and watch your computer carefully for unusual behavior.
