Carefully look at the contents of an e-mail. If an e-mail contains the following red flags, then it’s likely to be spam:
• The words “Kindly Find” or “Please view/review”
• Unusual and vague subject line content that may not make sense o e.g., “Payments&Statements” with random number references at the end
• Analyze the “From” field to see if the e-mail address matches the sender’s name
Inspect the e-mail domains of a contact. In other words, free e-mail providers, such as gmail.com, aol.com, yahoo.com, hotmail.com, outlook.com, etc., are domains that bad guys often use.
If you’re still unsure if an e-mail looks legitimate or not, here are a few more warning signs that can be found within phishing e-mails:
• E-mail makes unrealistic threats: “Click here” or your Microsoft account will be deleted within two days…
• Strange senses of urgency: Review the below closing form within the next five minutes for the deal to go through…
• You did not initiate the action: Ask yourself, did you send a message to this sender who is requesting information?
• Shortened URLs or URLs with IP addresses in them: www.bit458.y.com, 192.56.87.2.com
• Asks for personally identifiable information (PII): SSN, driver’s license, birth date, legal status, etc.