There are a number
of ways that scammers use to carry out email based scams on the internet. These
cyber criminals realize that millions of people check their email accounts
everyday and this presents them with a perfect opportunity to set up a scam. To
accomplish this, scammers send thousands of emails on a daily basis, knowing
fully well some of the users aren’t going to be able to spot the scam in front
of them and are going to unwittingly reply back. Emails scams usually results
in theft worth millions of dollars annually. This why reporting scam emails
immediately has become very important to limit what ever damage that might
occur through the scam. However, before users are reporting scam emails, they need to be familiar with all the common types of emails scams.
- Nigerian 419 scam
In this type of
scam, the user will suddenly receive a mail from a wealthy person in Nigeria
who is looking to shift to the US to avoid the internal conflict happening in
his own country. He would request your help in discreetly transferring millions
of dollars while promising a generous percentage as commission to you. However
before you move the money, he would ask you to spend hundreds of dollars in
little processing fees and will after a point simply disappear with your money.
In another variation of the same scam, you could be contacted by a Nigerian
lawyer who represents a rich family where all members died in a plane crash and
they bequeathed their entire fortune to you. People might straightway feel
suspicious about how some random person in another country whom you have never
heard of or met, will be willing to give so much money for no reason.
Unfortunately, the promise of millions prevents the people from approaching the
situation rationally and they end up being victimized by the scam. If you ever
receive such emails in your inbox, reporting scam emails might be right way to
deal with this issue.
- Phishing scam
This is one of the
most common type of email scams happening in the world today. These are more
subtle and can easily fool people who are in a real hurry to check through
their mail. Typically, scammers go to great lengths to design emails in such
way that they look like official communication you will receive on a regular
basis from your local bank or credit card company. The scammers will ensure
that they have copied the basic email design, company logo and other fonts to
perfection which will make you think that you really received the email from
your local bank or credit card company. Now the email would provide a link
below stating that the account has been temporarily frozen for security
purposes but you can reactivate it by logging into your account. If you click on the link below, you would be
redirected to a site which eerily looks like your banks webpage. However even
this is fake and has been carefully designed to look the same. And if you
happen to type your log in details, you would not be logged in but the page
would remain static. Before you type the log in details, take a look at the
URL. If its the usually URL of your bank then you have nothing to worry about.
However, if this is another case of online fraud, reporting scam emails becomes
very important. Since you have already typed your login details, the scammers
are now in possession of it and they could misuse it for their own personal
gains. You need to go into damage control mode to prevent them from stealing
your money. Gte in touch with local
banker and get your online account frozen. Go to the local police station and
file a complaint. Also visit the cyber wing of your government website that
allows for reporting of scam emails. By taking all the above precautions you
can effectively prevent scammers from indulging in online fraud and even have
them arrested for their crimes.
If you are looking
to get more tips on internet safety, visit www.bigscammers.com regularly.
