Hackers are extremely conscious of users’ techniques to avoid scams. That’s the main reason for the evolution on techniques to make scams successful. If you are receiving an e-mail you deem suspicious, you can check a set of data to prevent scams.
E-mail attacks are extremely common. Usually you receive a message from a seemingly trustworthy source but in facts it’s a virus or scam. Phishing techniques are very complex and you may fall in their trap if you don’t pay attention. In this article you can learn what to check from an e-mail to avoid scams. It’s not only about reading the sender address’.
Hackers tricks for scams using e-mail
Hackers try to scam and steal your personal data for different purposes. They may sell your personal information; steal your bank account money or even your access to online platforms. It’s important to know how e-mail works and what security measures to apply. When you send an e-mail it doesn’t go directly to the receiver, it first goes through an intermediate server for reliability checkings.
In order to succeed, hackers create their own e-mail servers to avoid security checks. You receive an apparently safe e-mail because the header seems legit. However, it may be a threat. Right now, e-mail services use three different protocols to authenticate a message before sending it to your inbox. The e-mail scams can be evaded by checking with these three protocols.
- SPF verifies that the server has permits to send messages with the sender’s domain name.
- DKIM adds a digital signature to the e-mail to confirm that the content hasn’t been altered.
- DMARC unifies SPF and DKIM and indicates the receiver’s server what to do when a message it’s not securely verified.
Malicious users include links or files with malware in order to steal your information. Although it’s a very popular method, it’s also easy to avoid if you know what to watch for.
Check reliability in e-mails to prevent scams
If you suspect an e-mail the first you should do is try to contact the sender with other platforms. For example, you can telephone him or send him a message to make sure he’s the sender of the e-mail. If that’s not an option, you can manually check certain metadata for clearance.
- Open the email with the web version of your mail platform.
- Check the header and click on the For me link.
In case the e-mail is not for scams, you will see the Sent by section in the bottom part of the window. If both addresses match, the e-mail is real. On the contrary, you may be exposed to a potential scam if there’s a difference between both addresses. You shouldn’t click on any link or file from the e-mail, it’s probably a phishing attempt. Taking this into consideration, you can prevent your e-mail account to become a potential threath because of hackers strategies. Take some minutes to revise all your e-mails before clicking on any new message and you will avoid scams.