Phishing. Someone is trying to scam you through telephone calls, email, web advertisements and even the mail into calling or clicking in the hopes of having you reveal information that can rob your bank account, steal your identity, or lure you into false charges. Or simply have you click on a link that infects your computer with a virus, ransomware, takes over your email account or simply spies on you. So many ways to go wrong!
Over the couple years, a large number of individuals and companies have received emails informing them that they have an invoice due — or have paid an invoice — in some large amount from a reputable and real company with the admonishment to call or click. Below is a real example of a scam email impersonating Norton Antivirus. This has all the calling cards of a scam:
- The charge of $438 was not recognized by the recipient – nor would antivirus normally run this high.
- It is not to the actual recipients email – showing only the “nortoncc2002@outlook” – clear signs of spam.
- The sender is NOT from Norton and is from an individual having a Gmail account! A large reputable company sending emails about invoices would have their domain in the email address (their website name) and probably a department, not a person. This is a big clue.
- The body does not contain graphics and does not look as “professional”. Notice the poor line spacing. Sometimes the English and grammar will be deficient in scam emails.
- You can check your credit card and note the absence of a real charge.
- Though not in this case, you might see a “deadline” is threatened.
- The customer care number is strange and there is no web link or other ties to Norton.
You can go to the vendor website and make an inquiry. But whatever you do, do NOT click on any provided links nor call the listed number. They may take you to websites that look really legitimate but are fake, designed to lure you into doing something you shouldn’t! Or capture your network with Ransomware. Go to a tab on your browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari), and type in the company name and try to find their legitimate website, and use the phone number listed to make inquiries if desired. Even better, click on https://scanurl.net/ and copy and paste the web link into this site to see if it is safe. You can hover over links as well to see if underneath the link there is a longer URL indicating the email link is an alias and fraudulent looking.
To emphasize how far scam artistists will go – see the image below of a scam invoice recently received by a customer in the mail! This is trying to look like a bill to renew the name of a website domain which has to be done periodically. The clue here is that few domain renewals would cost this kind of money, and of course, the domain in question was not registered through this company. Looking up the company, it is simply a site where you can list your domain in a directory resembling “white pages”. And it was roundly denounced in an Internet search on this company with the added advice that the actual service they deliver is overpriced and inferior. This particular maneuver while perhaps technically not illegal is definitely an example of shady practices.
Be careful out there! Do not click on email links and if in doubt, go the legitimate website, access your account there if you have one and even make a phone call to the company itself before believing an email or invoice telling you that you owe money!
image sources
- Email Fraud: Pixabay Content License
