How The Heck Do I

How The Heck Do I...

Know if an Email is a Scam?

Be on guard against emails that try to get your private details. Here's an example of one such email - and the tell-tale signs.

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Example of a 'Phishing' (scam) email:

Most of us have bought something on the Internet or are about to... but we're wary of being scammed. We've heard about people that trick you into giving up your banking details - so how can we tell if an email is on the level or not?

Rule of thumb: NEVER respond to an email that provides you with a convenient link to click to "access your account details" and fix up a supposed error. Banks and financial institutions NEVER ask you to do this.

The scam artists who set out to defraud people are very clever. They can make an email look as though it really does come from the place where you have an account. This will show you what to look out for.

A. The Initial Email

When the email comes in, it looks as though it comes from a legitimate source and the subject line usually sounds plausible. In this one, you can see that the 'from' field says "aw-confirm@ebay.com" which looks as though it really has been sent by eBay. The subject, "Question from eBay member", looks innocent enough. It also comes to YOUR email address (or one of them).

If you don't actually have an account at eBay, or you've never bought anything on eBay, you are less likely to fall for this. However, the scam merchants work on percentages. They know they'll fool SOMEBODY. (So don't let it be you.)

B. The Convincing "Look" of the Email

When you open up the email, it STILL looks as though it really does come from eBay. These are the tricks the sender is using (to correlate with the letters on the image below)

1. The email details - the 'from' details, the subject line, and your email address - all look convincing.

2. The right-hand side of the email contains identifiable eBay logos and message areas. It has 'marketplace safety tips' that APPEAR to be warning you about "trading safety" and procedure for "reporting email that appears to breach eBay policy". These have been 'lifted' from eBay's website and reproduced in this email to lull you into a false sense of security.

3. The link to follow up this matter looks as though it goes back to the official eBay site.

4. The title 'Question about Item - Respond Now' is intended to make you believe that this email is being sent THROUGH eBay by a disgruntled buyer.

5. The message itself (carefully misspelled - don't be taken in: the rest of this scam email has no spelling mistakes where it counts!) is meant to make you feel afraid that you will be subject to a police investigation if you don't reply and sort it all out.

HERE ARE CLOSE-UP VIEWS of these areas:

C: HOW TO CHECK THE EMAIL ADDRESSES GIVEN

It's usually fairly simple to check the REAL origin of these 'phishing' or scam emails. Just move your mouse so the cursor HOVERS over the email address. The REAL address 'behind the scenes' should show up.

In the example below, you can see what happens when you let the cursor hover over the link they give you to 'view item description'. They have carefully constructed the link so it LOOKS official... htps://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ seems to go back to the real eBay UK address. BUT... what do you see when you let the cursor hover over the address?

The link you are supposed to click will take you back to a website called ssignninn.100free.com - which plainly has NOTHING to do with eBay! You are not supposed to notice the ACTUAL web address. They've done two things to confuse you:

1. They have NAMED the link so it seems to go back to eBay UK, and put the usual bunch of confusing letters and numbers after it (we're all so used to seeing those)

2. In case you do notice the link underneath when you're clicking, they've used words similar to 'sign in' at the beginning (which could also look legitimate to a quick glance) and then put a whole row of symbols and letters after THAT address, too. Unless you know what you're looking for, you could easily be fooled.

Here is what you see when you let your cursor hover over other links and buttons:

Another example of their cunning approach... just one link actually does go to the eBay UK website!

(If you had clicked on - or hovered over - that one first, you might have been reassured...)

D: HOW YOU CAN PROTECT YOURSELF:

1. Check all the links by HOVERING over them (NOT clicking on them) to see what the REAL source of the email is.

2. Check the REAL sender when the email comes in. Here's how:

(a) When you open the email, click your RIGHT mouse button over the sender listed in the 'From' field. (What you see here is just a NAME, not a real email address.)

The email address of the REAL sender will be listed. As you can see here, it's nothing to do with the NAME that appeared (aw-confirm@ebay.com).

The real sender is 'oprmuk@citiz.net' But don't waste your time trying to find this person, or writing back to tell them what you think of them. They move so fast that the scam cops are rarely able to catch them. If you reply to them they simply know that they've got a real person on the other end.

3. Don't EVER respond to an email like this, even if you think it looks legitimate. Always log on to your financial institution or eBay by typing their website name into the address bar of your web browser. If you have a query, follow it up via channels on the legitimate website or by phone.

4. Think about investing in spam-protection software such as Mailwasher. (Mailwasher actually shows you the 'real' content of the email as opposed to what you see on the surface - you'll be able to see the fake links exposed in the plain text version of the email.)