Email Scams

Email Scams

1. Email Spoofing

   • Fake emails with different (fake) user addresses

2. Phishing

   • Attempt to acquire sensitive information, e.g. passwords for malicious reasons

3. To stay safe from hackers

   • Have a strong password and change it regularly
     • Immediately delete phishing or email spoofing mails and report as spam
   • Don't share any sensitive information online
     • Check for a green lock to ensure the website is safe
       • If there is a https the website's safe

4. Malware

   • Software that is specifically designed to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to a computer system.

5. Different crimes committed with a computer

   • 1. Phishing Scams
     • Phishing scams are attempts by scammers to trick you into giving out your personal information such as bank account numbers, passwords and credit card numbers. These scammers will contact you out of the blue, via email, text message, phone call or even through social media, pretending to be a legitimate business such as your bank, telephone company or even internet provider. The scammer may ask you to update them on your details so they can refresh their systems, they may even ask you to fill out a survey as you have the chance to win a prize at the end. But here is where the scammer can get access to your email address, phone number and more. Another way these scammers get hold of your information is to tell you that ‘unauthorised or suspicious activity has been happening on your account’, and they will then ask you for your information so they can “sort it out”.
     • 2. Online Scams
       • Online scams, are basically scams that happen online. Whether that’s tricking you into giving out personal details online by an ad popping up telling you you have won something and asking for your card details to pay for shipping. Sadly, you’ll never receive anything but you’ll start noticing weird transactions coming from your bank account.
       • 3. Malware
         • Malware is the contraction of malicious software onto your system. It’s a piece of software written with the intent of causing harm to data and devices. Malware is the overarching name for different types of viruses such as a ‘trojan’ and ‘spyware’. Malware is often done through a range of viruses that will get into your computer to cause havoc, by damaging your computer, tablet, phone; so the culprits can steal credit card details and other personal information.
         • 4. Email Bombing
           • An email bomb is more a form of internet abuse. Email bombing is an overload of emails directed to one email address, this will cause the person receiving the emails server to become sluggish or even crash. They may not necessarily be stealing anything from you but having a sluggish server can be a real pain and hard work to fix.
           • 5. Virus Dissemination
             • This is particularly sneaky form of cyber crime. It not only gets a piece of malware (a virus of some sort) onto one part of the victim’s system, but it spreads across other pieces of software. Without a full and proper quarantine process and safe environment to test in (a sandbox), the next time you open a piece of undiagnosed-as-infected software, the process starts all over again.
             • 6. Logic Bombs
               • Logic bombs act in the same way as a virus,but are small programs or sections of a program, which are triggered by an event. This event can be a certain date or time, a certain percentage of disk space filled, the removal of a file and so on. A program could then delete critical sections of code, rendering your software as useless. The people who implement logic bombs are most commonly installed by insiders who already had access to the system.
               • 7. Theft
                 • Internet theft is the broad term for any type of theft that happens over the internet, this can be done through many ways such as fake ads, fake emails, viruses and snooping. The aim of internet theft is to steal your personal information and use it to then steal money out of your bank account or make purchases using your details.
                 • 8. Social Media hacking and spamming
                   • Social media spamming comes when a person makes a fake account and becomes friends or followed by the average person. This then gives the fake account the freedom to spam inboxes with bulk messaging, this can be done for spreading malware. Spamming can also spread malicious links created with the intent to harm, mislead or damage a user or their device. Clicking on the malicious link, which may be advertising a new iPhone or weight loss treatment, means you could be downloading malware which can lead to the theft of personal information.
                   • 9. Catfishing
                     • Money generated in large volumes illegally must be laundered before it can be spent or invested. One way to launder money is to do it electronically through messages between banks which is known as a “wire transfer”. It had previously seemed impossible to monitor or screen wire transfers as they occur due to the tremendous volume on transactions going through on a  day to day basis, however banks are clamping down on the issue and filing away any suspicious activity.
                     • 10. Electronic Money Laundering
                       • By sourcing the contact details and available account information for savings or investment account holders, fraudsters can adopt the persona of an investment broker. They will then contact customers to entice them with easy and profitable opportunities, but they seem a lot more trustworthy because they talk about accounts you already own and real results.

6. How to identify an email scam

   • Greeting: usually an email from a reputable company states your name at the start of an email
     • Check for spelling/grammar and punctuation
       • Is there a sense of immediacy in the email?
         • The sender's address is often a variation on a genuine address.
         • Forged Link: The link looks genuine but it may not link to the website given. Roll your mouse over to check.
           • Request for personal information

7. Virus Generated Email

   • Will appear to be sent from a friend
     • Usually means your friend's email has been infected with a virus and has sent the email to your whole address book

8. Sometimes when something is too good to be true, it might be a trojan horse

9. Advanced Fee Frauds

   • When someone is tricked into paying an advanced fee for something and then you never hear of them again.
     • It shows itself as a trustworthy service, like many email scams