1. The message is sent from a public email domain
No legitimate organisation will send emails from an address that ends ‘@gmail.com’.
Not even Google.
Except for some small operations, most organisations will have their own email domain and company accounts. For example, legitimate emails from Google will read ‘@google.com’.
If the domain name (the bit after the @ symbol) matches the apparent sender of the email, the message is probably legitimate.
By contrast, if the email comes from an address that isn’t affiliated with the apparent sender, it’s almost certainly a scam.
The most obvious way to spot a bogus email is if the sender uses a public email domain, such as ‘@gmail.com’.
2. The domain name is misspelt
There’s another clue hidden in domain names that provides a strong indication of phishing scams – unfortunately, it complicates the previous step.
The problem is that anyone can buy a domain name from a registrar. And although every domain name must be unique, there are plenty of ways to create addresses that are indistinguishable from the one that’s being spoofed. If an email says something about your Netflix account for example, but their email is being sent from "Netfix" or "Metflix" you could be easily fooled if you're just taking a quick glance. It's important to check these addresses closely.
3. The email is poorly written
You can often tell if an email is a scam if it contains poor spelling and grammar. Any legitimate email can have mistakes of course, but some questions to ask yourself to determine whether this is legitimate or poor planning on the part of a scammer are;
- Is it a common sign of a typo (like hitting an adjacent key)?
- Is it a mistake a native speaker shouldn’t make (grammatical incoherence, words used in the wrong context)?
- Is this email a template which should have been crafted and copy-edited?
- Is it consistent with previous messages I’ve received from this person?
4. It includes infected attachments or suspicious links
No matter how phishing emails are delivered, they all contain a payload. This will either be an infected attachment you’re asked to download or a link to a bogus website.
The purpose of these payloads is to capture sensitive information, such as login credentials, credit card details, phone numbers and account numbers.
5. The message creates a sense of urgency
Scammers know that most of us procrastinate. We receive an email giving us important news, and we decide we’ll deal with it later.
But the longer you think about something, the more likely you will notice things that don’t seem right.
Maybe you realise that the organisation doesn’t contact you by that email address, or you speak to a colleague and learn that they didn’t send you a document.
Even if you don’t get that ‘a-ha’ moment, returning to the message with a fresh set of eyes might help reveal its true nature.
That’s why so many scams request that you act now, or else it will be too late. This has been evident in every example we’ve used so far.
PayPal, Windows and Netflix provide regularly used services, and any problems with those statements could cause immediate inconveniences.
The manufactured sense of urgency is equally effective in workplace scams.
Criminals know that we’re likely to drop everything if our boss emails us with a vital request, especially when other senior colleagues are supposedly waiting on us.