The spam emails get trickier to recognise. You might even be already familiar with some ways to tell them apart from other emails, and if you have a good email agent it might actually sort through that Spam for you.
Some of the mails can be a bit more sneaky and so well-composed that they eventually make it into your inbox. So, here are 5 go-to tips to recognise the Spam emails.
1. If the email is from Apple, Google or Microsoft; ask yourself – have you used these services recently? If yes, perhaps it is the real email. And if not – most probably it’s a spam concealing itself as an email from a big company.
2. Check the email address. So, you think that you should receive an email from Microsoft because of something you did, check the email address it came from. Here’s an example below:
See the address line? The emails from the legitimate companies would come from something like @whatsapp.com or other.
3. Check the link. Right, so the email seems legitimate, and the email also seems right. Now, check the link without clicking it to see if it leads you to the place you should be at. Right-click on the link and select “Copy link address”, now paste it into a word document and see if it looks like it’s going to take you to the company website like “whatsapp.com/something-something” or it doesn’t even mention the company name anywhere in the link. It doesn’t? Most likely email is spam.
4. Check in the app. So, this particular example is about WhatsApp. Usually, an app like this will send you notification in the app itself to say that they have sent you an email. Open the app and check if there’s a notification somewhere in the settings. And if it’s Google, Apple or Microsoft you can also check for any Desktop or phone notifications on your computer.
5. Use common sense. Does it sound dodgy? It most likely is. Most of the services mentioned here wouldn’t contact you directly: on email or by phone. Just try to make yourself aware of these things and be alert the next time you get a new message.
In any case, if you ever have a doubt, you can give us a quick call and we can help you tell suspicious content from the legitimate mail or phonecall.