5 Practical Tips to Protect Yourself from Spam

You receive an email from someone you trust with a link. After clicking it, you are suddenly redirected to a website that attempts to download and install unwanted files on your computer. Sometimes, your screen may be flooded with pop-up advertisements… This scenario is quite common on the Internet, and it can be difficult to fully protect yourself against these intrusions.

Fraudulent emails are probably one of the most widespread forms of intrusion on the Internet. It is easy to receive more than 20 messages per day from hackers trying to steal your data. Although some phishing emails are easy to detect, even for the most inexperienced users, many of them can still trick you into clicking…

We therefore provide in this article some tips to help determine whether the email you received is fraudulent or not.

Is the email addressed to you personally?

Most of the time, scammers do not actually know the person’s name, as they rely only on the email address. Email lists are often sold without corresponding identification. If a message is truly legitimate, it will usually include your name. Although this is not a decisive factor in identifying spam, you might be surprised by how often this detail appears.

Organizations such as PayPal and eBay will always use your name or ID in the emails they send. The phrase “Dear customer” is never used; PayPal will always use your full name. Fraudulent emails do not include this information for two reasons:

These people do not know your name
These messages are sent in bulk and it is impossible to personalize each one

However, the use of your name does not necessarily mean that the email is legitimate. Sometimes, data linked to your name and email address can be obtained and then resold. This is why you should consider the following points when determining whether an email is fraudulent or not.

Does the “From” field correspond to a real email address?

A large number of seemingly legitimate emails come from fake email addresses. For example, many PayPal-related spam messages will display addresses such as “paypall.com” or “epaypal.com.” At a quick glance, you can easily notice that the address is completely fake.

Unfortunately, the sender’s email address is easy to forge so that it appears real. In this case, you need to examine the properties of the email message. If you use Outlook, this is relatively simple.

Here is how to proceed:

Right-click on the message
Left-click on “Properties”
In the “Details” window, check the originating server

If it shows a different email address, it may be a fraudulent email. For example, a fake eBay email may come from a server such as “@achetermoinscher.com” or another address completely different from “@eBay.com.”

Does the email contain links?

The first thing to do is avoid clicking on any links directly in the email. This helps protect you from malware that tries to steal your information. These links may redirect you to a fake form or a fake website.

Some software allows you to preview links before clicking. For example, Outlook will display a preview of the link in the bottom-left corner of the screen when you hover your mouse over it.

If you receive a message from Twitter and the displayed link is “http://gagnerdelargent.com/twitter.com,” then it is certainly fake. If the message comes from a professional organization, such as a bank, type the address manually into your browser. A message may inform you that there is a problem with your account and ask you to log in to verify the information. In that case, always visit the website directly through your browser, not via the provided link.

Does the email have a clean design?

A fraudulent email may use real images of organizations to make it appear as convincing as possible. While it can sometimes be difficult to determine whether images are authentic, there are other clear indicators you can look for.

Spelling mistakes are one of them. A reputable organization will not send emails containing numerous spelling or grammatical errors.

Does the email ask for personal information?

Many scams occur when hackers already have a lot of information about you. For example, emails telling you that you have won a certain amount of money but require your personal details to send you the check. If they truly knew you had won, they would already have that information…

You may receive emails from seemingly legitimate sources asking you to verify your information. No organization will ask you to do this via email unless you have just subscribed to a service and need to confirm your address by clicking a link.

You should therefore be certain that no service—whether a company or institution—will ask you to send personal identification information via email. These organizations already have that information.

Email is one of the most commonly used forms of communication for both personal and professional use. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most exposed to scams and malware attacks.

Source :

Blog LWS