{"id":2113,"date":"2017-03-14T07:14:24","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T12:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/?p=2113"},"modified":"2018-06-26T12:03:59","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T17:03:59","slug":"common-email-scams-avoid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Email Scams and How to Avoid Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"emails<\/a>As IT security threats<\/a> continue to evolve, it\u2019s more important than ever for businesses to take action<\/a> to safeguard their data. Often, it\u2019s not enough to have the latest anti-virus software or hybrid firewall. When in doubt, protecting your information and hardware comes down on some level to personal scrutiny.<\/p>\n

This is especially the case when checking email. While junk mail is typically easy to avoid and delete, malicious third parties have invented plenty of ways to convince you to open their messages. To help you watch for a dangerous message, we\u2019ll go over a few common email scams and how to avoid them.<\/p>\n

The request for information
\n<\/strong>As old as the Internet, requesting your information is a common cybercriminal tactic. The most infamous email scam was the \u201cNigerian prince\u201d email, in which a third party claimed to be a wealthy prince offering you money. In exchange for bank account information and a security deposit, users would supposedly have access to this great wealth.<\/p>\n

Obviously, it was a farce. So, any time you see an email requesting login details or attempting to tell you there\u2019s a \u201cproblem\u201d with your account, this is often a cyber criminal\u2019s attempt to access sensitive information.<\/p>\n

The bank account scam
\n<\/strong>This one works like the request for information in that it involves a request for your info. This one is tricky, as the sender creates a convincing looking email with all the official imagery claiming there\u2019s an issue with your bank account. Concerned, you follow the link where you\u2019re asked to log in. This is actually a malicious third party attempting to fool you.<\/p>\n

You can avoid this by checking the URL of the link. If it\u2019s a series of unfamiliar numbers and letters, chances are it\u2019s fake. Also, the email might contain small errors in spelling or grammar or random changes in syntax.<\/p>\n

The mystery shopper bamboozle
\n<\/strong>Every now and again you might be contacted for a \u201cposition\u201d as a mystery shopper. The email describes how you can make lots of money after you provide your email, address, and phone number. Then you go to a location to \u201cshop\u201d and are paid after the fact.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this is just a way to harvest your personal info. On top of that, most mystery shopper emails make you pay an upfront charge before you can proceed. In other cases, payment turns out to be fraudulent.<\/p>\n

Phishing emails
\n<\/strong>Some of the most dangerous malicious messages are phishing emails<\/a>, which attempt to hijack your information. They\u2019ll use any method, including the previous listings. But often they rely on the user to click a link contained in the email.<\/p>\n

That link can lead to a malicious site or attempt to upload a dangerous form of malware. From here this malware will attempt to compromise information.<\/p>\n

Phishing can be detected by checking the sender\u2019s name. Typically, malicious third parties send from addresses that are not recognizable like xyz@233.oz or something or another. When in doubt, this is an easy way to detect a dangerous email from compromising your info.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As IT security threats continue to evolve, it\u2019s more important than ever for businesses to take action to safeguard their data. Often, it\u2019s not enough to have the latest anti-virus software or hybrid firewall. When in doubt, protecting your information … Read more ><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-it-tips"],"yoast_head":"Common Email Scams and How to Avoid Them<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Don't fall for these common email scams - such as phishing, bank account scams, or the mystery shopper trick - that can end up compromising your info.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Common Email Scams and How to Avoid Them\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Don't fall for these common email scams - such as phishing, bank account scams, or the mystery shopper trick - that can end up compromising your info.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stratosphere Networks IT Support Blog - Chicago IT Support Technical Support\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-14T12:14:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-26T17:03:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/One-color-globe.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"dsparks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"dsparks\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"dsparks\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/610effe029357cf39739d82d57e3b03c\"},\"headline\":\"Common Email Scams and How to Avoid Them\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-14T12:14:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-26T17:03:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/\"},\"wordCount\":529,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/One-color-globe.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"IT Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/\",\"name\":\"Common Email Scams and How to Avoid Them\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/One-color-globe.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-14T12:14:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-26T17:03:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/610effe029357cf39739d82d57e3b03c\"},\"description\":\"Don't fall for these common email scams - such as phishing, bank account scams, or the mystery shopper trick - that can end up compromising your info.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/One-color-globe.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/One-color-globe.png\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":1024},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Common Email Scams and How to Avoid Them\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Stratosphere Networks IT Support Blog - Chicago IT Support Technical Support\",\"description\":\"The Stratosphere Networks IT Support blog offering IT Support Services information.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/610effe029357cf39739d82d57e3b03c\",\"name\":\"dsparks\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b07d2c6f91fabde958f3d699e6916d89ce9b9f2b23ebf9b18d8adb5aed7e14b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b07d2c6f91fabde958f3d699e6916d89ce9b9f2b23ebf9b18d8adb5aed7e14b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"dsparks\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/author\/dsparks\/\"}]}<\/script>","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Common Email Scams and How to Avoid Them","description":"Don't fall for these common email scams - such as phishing, bank account scams, or the mystery shopper trick - that can end up compromising your info.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Common Email Scams and How to Avoid Them","og_description":"Don't fall for these common email scams - such as phishing, bank account scams, or the mystery shopper trick - that can end up compromising your info.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/","og_site_name":"Stratosphere Networks IT Support Blog - Chicago IT Support Technical Support","article_published_time":"2017-03-14T12:14:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-06-26T17:03:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/One-color-globe.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"dsparks","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"dsparks","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/"},"author":{"name":"dsparks","@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/610effe029357cf39739d82d57e3b03c"},"headline":"Common Email Scams and How to Avoid Them","datePublished":"2017-03-14T12:14:24+00:00","dateModified":"2018-06-26T17:03:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/"},"wordCount":529,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/One-color-globe.png","articleSection":["IT Tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/","url":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/","name":"Common Email Scams and How to Avoid Them","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/One-color-globe.png","datePublished":"2017-03-14T12:14:24+00:00","dateModified":"2018-06-26T17:03:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/610effe029357cf39739d82d57e3b03c"},"description":"Don't fall for these common email scams - such as phishing, bank account scams, or the mystery shopper trick - that can end up compromising your info.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/One-color-globe.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/One-color-globe.png","width":1024,"height":1024},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/common-email-scams-avoid\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Common Email Scams and How to Avoid Them"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/","name":"Stratosphere Networks IT Support Blog - Chicago IT Support Technical Support","description":"The Stratosphere Networks IT Support blog offering IT Support Services information.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/610effe029357cf39739d82d57e3b03c","name":"dsparks","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b07d2c6f91fabde958f3d699e6916d89ce9b9f2b23ebf9b18d8adb5aed7e14b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b07d2c6f91fabde958f3d699e6916d89ce9b9f2b23ebf9b18d8adb5aed7e14b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"dsparks"},"url":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/author\/dsparks\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2115,"href":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113\/revisions\/2115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}