Email scams are cyberattacks that use social engineering to deceive recipients into sharing sensitive information, sending money, or downloading malware.
In modern email scams, attackers craft convincing messages that appear to come from trusted sources. This exploitation of trust makes manipulating victims into taking harmful actions easier. These scams often rely on urgency, fear, or authority to override skepticism and bypass common red flags.
Read on to learn how email scams work, explore real examples, spot warning signs, and stop fraudulent messages with Abnormal.
Email scams work by tricking recipients into interacting with fake but convincing and harmful messages.
Email scams occur when a criminal sends an email that appears authentic but contains malicious links or attachments. The goal is to make the recipient trust and interact with the email.
Criminals use email scams to obtain sensitive information like credit card numbers, login credentials, or other personal data. Depending on their intentions, criminals may also target organizations and attempt to install ransomware via fake email attacks.
The criminals use social engineeringand exploit trusted relationships to conduct their email scams. They also know how to create legitimate-looking emails and websites to get the information they want from their victims.
While email scams vary widely, a common thread runs through them: traditional email security often misses the subtle signs of fraud. As a result, many people fall victim to these attacks.
Let’s explore nine of the most common email scams.
Email phishing is a broad term for emails designed to trick recipients into handing over sensitive information or installing malicious software. These emails usually contain a legitimate-looking message that mimics a trusted source.
Unlike mass phishing emails, spear phishing targets specific recipients instead of a group. The email scammer will research and create a highly personalized phishing campaign to trick a person into a scam. These are highly effective when executed properly.
Pharming involves redirecting users from a legitimate website to a fake version. This is executed with malware or display name spoofing. It's designed to steal login credentials from victims.
In whaling and CEO fraud, criminals target or impersonate a high-ranking official. Then they send scam emails to other employees within the same company. CEO fraud is effective in tricking employees since the email looks like it came from their boss.
URL phishing attempts use similar-looking domain links to fool a victim into thinking they are using the real website. The fake websites are designed to look legitimate and then attempt to steal login credentials or install malware.
Many phishing scams include credential phishing in their campaigns. They use social engineering tactics to trick users into handing over information, paying fake invoices, or installing malware.
At best, spam is annoying and clogs your inbox. At worst, it could contain malicious links or attachments. Spam filters can intercept many spam emails, but they may miss social engineering phishing attacks.
Vendor email compromise (VEC) happens when a criminal compromises a vendor's email account and uses it to launch email scam attacks against trusted business partners. This is also referred to as a supply chain attack.
Criminals use spoofed email addresses to trick recipients by impersonating another person or business. The email address may have one letter off or use a display name that looks like a trusted sender. This is easy for the human eye to miss.
Criminals often impersonate familiar brands to lower a victim’s guard.
These real-world examples show the importance of staying vigilant with every email you receive in your inbox:
First is the PayPal credential phishing attack.
In this attack, email scammers used PayPal branding to gain a recipient's trust. A closer look reveals the criminals used email spoofing and URL phishing to trick users into entering their PayPal login credentials.
Next is the Microsoft attack.
Threat actors launched a credential phishing campaign using spoofed Microsoft email accounts. More specifically, attacks impersonated an HR employee and used Microsoft branding and URL phishing to redirect victims to a fraudulent website that looked like the real one.
Lastly, the targeted eBay attack.
The eBay attack was a spear phishing attack wherein scammers targeted individuals who were likely expecting payment instructions for a car purchase on eBay.
The attackers impersonated eBay and sent fraudulent messages directing victims to pay with gift cards. If successful, the victim not only lost money but also unknowingly overpaid for a non-existent or misrepresented transaction.
Email scams are easier to spot when you know the common warning signs, such as:
Sense of Urgency: A scam will ask the recipient to complete a time-sensitive action and give them little time to think about it.
Grammatical Errors: Typos, spelling mistakes, and other grammatical errors are signs that an email is suspicious.
Different Tone of Voice: If you receive an email from a trusted source, compare it to previous emails to judge the tone and style. You may notice that a professional tone has replaced a previously friendly voice, which could signify fraudulent activity.
Suspicious Links: Before opening a link, check that it's legitimate and not a spoofed URL, as it can be a malware email scam.
Unfamiliar Attachments: Treat attachments with suspicion before opening. It's best to have updated antivirus software to scan attachments to authenticate their legitimacy.
Display Name Spoofing: People should look beyond the display name and ensure that the scam email address is legitimate and not spoofed. Even then, it could be a vendor email compromise, so look at the other characteristics before trusting the email.
If you think you received a suspicious email, take these steps to protect yourself:
Don't Open Links or Download Attachments: Don't interact with the email any further. You should delete the email as soon as possible to prevent malware from installing on your device.
Don't Respond to Sender: You may receive multiple demanding emails from criminals, but don't respond to them. A response could give them access.
File a Report: If you did fall victim to a phishing scam, it's important to take steps to prevent identity theft. Some steps include changing all of your passwords, monitoring credit reports and bank statements, and reporting the phishing scam to an organization like the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Be Prepared: In a professional setting, your employees should receive security awareness training on reporting scam emails to the IT department. This step is crucial to implementing a business continuity plan and stopping malicious software from spreading further.
The key to protecting yourself is to know how to identify email scams. While native email security protocols can catch the most common email scams, they can't always detect social engineering tactics that raise suspicion of a possible fraudulent email.
Some ways to lessen the impact of email scams include:
Implement a strong password policy
Install advanced email security software
Update antivirus software
Enforce multi-factor authentication
Train employees on cybersecurity awareness and reporting procedures
Abnormal proactively prepares a strong cybersecurity defense. Pair it with training employees to notice suspicious emails to create a layered defense that secures your network.
One way to prepare your defense is to use advanced email security software.
Abnormal detects social engineering tactics in emails that traditional email security usually misses. Some of the red flags that Abnormal can detect include:
Display names that don't match sender names
Unusual IP addresses
Urgent language
Requests for credentials or financial information
Suspicious links and attachments
Changes to mail filter rules
An integrated solution like Abnormal can discover email scams from mass phishing attacks to personalized spear phishing attempts. Investing in an advanced email security solution will lower the risk of falling victim to criminals.
Ready to evolve your email scam protection? Get a demo to see how Abnormal can help protect your inboxes.
