Information on Email Scams

Practically everyone who uses email is subject to receiving unsolicited messages promising vast riches for investing in a new scheme or an announcement that they have "won" a foreign lottery. Because of the efficiency of email to send messages to a large number of recipients, email is a prime platform for scammers to send fraudulent "easy money" offers that are designed to obtain information, such as bank account numbers or Social Security numbers.

Business Opportunities

One of the most common types of email scams is the "business opportunity" that promises a large amount of income for a small up-front investment of time and money by the recipient. They sound too good to be true, and according to the Federal Trade Commission, they are. In most cases, they are simply illegal pyramid schemes disguised as legitimate business practices. In addition, many emails promise large profits by exchanging money on world currency markets -- but are not legitimate, according to the FTC.

Foreign Lotteries

Another classic scam is a notification that the recipient has "won" a lottery in some foreign country. These messages nearly always come with a promise to "deposit" funds to the recipient's account once they provide banking information. Often, the email will say that the winners were chosen by a random drawing from a list of email addresses. The telltale signs that these emails are a scam are that the message is filled with spelling and grammar errors, the sender is a person rather than an organization and that the email asks the recipient to respond to an individual.

Imitations

"Imitator" scams are when the recipient receives an email that appears to be from a legitimate, well-known company, such as PayPal. The recipient is advised that the company is updating their security records or is performing "routine account maintenance," and they should click on a link embedded in the email to confirm their information. The email includes the company's logo and other branding. According to the Washington State Attorney General's Office, no legitimate business will send an email asking people to verify account information through a link. An easy way to detect that this is a scam is by checking the sender's address: if it includes "intl" (short for international), it is virtually certain to be a scam.

Official Notices

The "official notice" scam is when an email purports to be from a government agency, such as the Internal Revenue Service, and that there is a "problem" that the recipient must resolve by clicking on a link in the email. However, the IRS -- like many other U.S. government agencies -- does not use email to send official notices. These scams, in which the recipient is asked to provide personally identifying information, are known as "phishing," and are designed to steal someone's identity so that they can run up charges on their credit cards and apply for loans under the victim's name.

References

• Washington State Attorney General: 5 Common E-mail Scams; 2008.
• Internal Revenue Service: IRS Warns of e-Mail Scam about Tax Refunds; November 2005.
• Federal Trade Commission: FTC Unveils "Dirty Dozen Spam Scams"; July 1998.
• United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team: Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams; 2005.