Between 03:42 and 13:56 today I was sent seven suspicious emails. What made them more suspicious was that they came from just two registered addresses: one ‘igain-mail.co.uk’; the other from Am Unisys-Park 1 Sulzbach/Ts 65483 OR 65843 Germany.
These emails have tempted me with:
- a dating service, specifically by a 37-year old woman who’s looking for someone respectful and honest for a serious and special relationship; my gender is not an issue
- a Cadbury’s hamper
- a Welcome Package for a gambling site
- 1 free year of Disney+ or Netflix
- a £1000 Amazon voucher – same temptation sent three separate times
Tell-tale signs that an email is probably not genuine
Check out for:
- spelling errors – in the examples above “recieve” should be “receive”; “your” should be “you’re”; “recepients” should be “recipients”
- grammar errors, e.g. “a AMAZON voucher” should be “an AMAZON voucher”
- clumsy wording or sentence construction
- two or three hoops to jump through, each requiring you to Click on a link
- claims that you have been exclusively selected / are one of just a few lucky people
- reminders that you must act quickly
- lots of places for you to Click on – each one with the potential to be a link to a site you really do not want to go to; I would not even trust the Unsubscribe Link
Remember:
If you have any doubt, hit that DELETE key.
“If it sounds too good to be true – it probably is.”
If any of these emails are genuine then I apologise for calling them into question. I use them to illustrate the kinds of emails I have been bombarded with since Lockdown.
Everyone needs to be alert to what is out there and the emails that are used to suck people in, to exploit, and to trick us out of our hard-earned cash. Consumer Watchdogs warn us of such scams. My aim is to illustrate the kinds of bait that are used. Please like, share, and comment on my post, but mostly please share so that a wide audience can see what is out there at the moment.
Thank you for reading.
Stay well. Stay safe. Stay alert.
marilyn unmasked 