How To Quickly Identify An Email Scam (Experts Sharing Ideas)

About ten years ago I remember hearing about a man who was the victim of an email scam. He received a message from a man claiming he had won some kind of lottery and was entitled to millions in British pounds. To get the money, all he had to do was send ten thousand pounds to clear the taxes. I am sure you can see where this is going.

The man, a resident of the United Kingdom, lost every pence of his life savings. The person who took it? A scammer in Russia who was one of many scammers working through the web.

Now, most of us know these scams by now, and so we don't respond to them. But every once in awhile, someone who doesn't know will give in and lose more than they could have ever hoped to gain. Occasionally, something is clever enough that even those who are in the know run the risk of being swindled.

So, how do you know when an email is a scam message? There are a couple of tips to help you identify them quickly and easily. Here are our subject matter experts sharing their insights...

Q. What are your usual email red flags? Please share screenshots of scammy emails if you have any handy

A. Philtrate

• Poor English is the prime red flag. Poor subject/verb agreemenmt, incorrect pronouns, strange capitalisations
• Anything about someone having died, usually someone rich and the sender needs your help accessing the money that the deceased left
• Anything from Nigeria (because I have no genuine contacts there)
• Anything where they offer you a share of something (usually money)
• emails without paragraphs

A. Rey (Phat Innovator)

Simply put if they are too good to be true, they are, that is my start.  The URL (the true URL not the one showing on the email itself) is wrong and goes to Russia or something like that.  All text emails are suspect.  Emails from people I do not know with misspellings of my name are a good clue.  Overall my spam filters now are so good after alot of training that I never have good emails trapped there so I do not even bother reading the spam filter folder I just automatically delete them.

I used to own a jewelry website and I got scam mail daily.  I have great experience with it.  I have even received $100 bills for a $9 order asking for cash back and when you look it was a washed out dollar bill. I have received verifiable Amex cashiers check for $220K that took me 3 days to verify as a scam (they washed out a real check and created the fake one...that one almost got me becuase I wanted to believe the order!  So I have extensive experience and have not been cought yet, but these things are getting soooh good that one day I am sure one will get me.

A. ldylarke (SEO Consultant)

Phishing is primarily the type of scam emails I receive. A simple mouse over on the link they want me to click and go to usually reveals that the email is in fact a phishing expidition and not from the well-known site at all.

In this example, the email is supposedly from Apple. Clicking the link would go to a non-Apple related site that will look like the typical Apple login page. The point, of course, is to get my login and password information with the hopes that credit card or banking informarmation will be on the account.

Here's a screenshot of the email I received.

Q. How do you deal with the scam emails? Spam? Report? Ignore?

A. Philtrate

Spam...

A. Rey (Phat Innovator)

Simply put if they are too good to be true, they are, that is my start.  The URL (the true URL not the one showing on the email itself) is wrong and goes to Russia or something like that.  All text emails are suspect.  Emails from people I do not know with misspellings of my name are a good clue.  Overall my spam filters now are so good after alot of training that I never have good emails trapped there so I do not even bother reading the spam filter folder I just automatically delete them.

I used to own a jewelry website and I got scam mail daily.  I have great experience with it.  I have even received $100 bills for a $9 order asking for cash back and when you look it was a washed out dollar bill. I have received verifiable Amex cashiers check for $220K that took me 3 days to verify as a scam (they washed out a real check and created the fake one...that one almost got me becuase I wanted to believe the order!  So I have extensive experience and have not been cought yet, but these things are getting soooh good that one day I am sure one will get me.

A. ldylarke (SEO Consultant)

I usually "spam" emails like this. If they weren't already reported as spam by Gmail. Sometimes I will report the email if it is phishing related. Nearly every major site has a "spoofing" reporting email address. For example, PayPal has a spoof@paypal.com email address to report phishing emails.

Q. Have you ever tried replying to the scam emails?

A. Rey (Phat Innovator)

Yes, back when it was safe to reply I used to play with them.  I got them lathered up thinking they had me only to laugh at them.  I even got them to call me and go voice with it.  As I said, I have extensive experience with spam mail because of owning a jewelry website.  I have brought the spam off the net to phone calls and even receiving Fedex packages with checks, cash, gifts, letters, etc.  Even got Cookies once, but I could not bring myself to eat them despite them smelling and looking great!  Now a days I do not have the time and it is way too dangeous to answer them so I do not.

A. ldylarke (SEO Consultant)

No way would I ever respond to scam emails. They find my email address by scraping or from sites that sell email addresses, I suppose. Answering emails like this would only encourage  such scammers to keep my email address and send more spam. No thank you! If anything, I'd be more likely to report the email as spam and/or as phishing to the site they were using to get your financial information from.

To sum up

The email is probably a scam if...

• The email is badly written. This is a big one, because many scammers are not fluent in the language they are attempting to write. While they claim to be some kind of professional, usually coming from a wealthy office that could hire translators, their email will be sloppily written and grammatically incorrect. Now, a company can occasionally make a small spelling or formatting error. But when it is noticeably bad you should take it as an immediate red flag.
• The offer is too good to be true. Oh boy, the widow of a Nigerian general needs help moving money around and is willing to reward you handsomely for assisting her! Five seconds of thought and it is obvious that this makes no sense at all. But the desire to believe can over ride common sense. So when you see these messages, ask yourself one question: why me? What in the world could I offer, and how did they get my email address? Is there someone else who might be better suited toward dealing with these issues, like an attorney, for example? If the answer is yes, you should assume it is a scammer. If the answer is no, you should still probably assume it is a scammer unless it has gone through the proper channels.
• The sender is requesting personal information. Most scammers are not so stupid as to ask for your bank details in the opening message (though some are). Most will ask for other information, such as a phone number, address, or your full name. Others will want you to contact them by phone, as it is a easier to manipulate you over the line because you are more likely to trust them. Never give your information out over email, especially sensitive details that could give a clue as to your location.
• The tone is threatening. A trend I have noticed lately is for a scammer to claim you owe some kind of debt, have a problem with your account, or have some other urgent matter to discuss. Some appear to come from official sites, such as PayPal or other banking institutions. But most of these are fraudulent, so never go through an email to the site in question to sign in. Also, never just accept an email threatening you with legal action, such as for non-payment. Contact the company in question yourself.

Email scams are very real, and a pain to deal with. But with a little bit of knowledge and vigilance, you can keep yourself safe.