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How to recognize a scam email

Scams via email come in all shapes and sizes. These email scams often try to steal your personal information, gain access to your online accounts or place a virus on your devices. There are things you can watch to help protect yourself.

1. Watch for incorrect email addresses. Large, trusted organizations like banks, retailers and government offices will never us a generic email provider like Hotmail.com or even Gmail.com.
2. Spelling errors. While spelling errors can happen to the best of us, bad spelling can be an indication of a scam.
3. Scare tactics! If the email creates a sense of panic that you must act now, STOP! Pause for a moment before taking any action. If the email is asking you for sensitive information like your social security number, bank pin or email password, do not click any links or call any numbers in the email. Contact your institution or tech support directly to verify the email is legitimate.
4. Suspicious links. Hover over links in an email and your device will often tell you where that link points. If it is taking you to a website that you do not know, don’t click.
5. Attachments. Only open attachments from trusted sources and even then, be careful and verify. Attacks like ransomware and viruses are often placed on a device when a user opens an attachment that was not legitimate.

The content of this post was based on a flyer from Security Federal Bank and the American Bankers Association. They offer more help at BanksNeverAskThat.com.

If you are a customer of Convergent Design, please feel free to email, text or call us with spam related questions.