What to do with Suspicious Emails

First, let’s separate suspicious email from spam and commercial mail. You probably already recognize obvious spam or emails offering deals and discounts and have a system for dealing with them or ignoring them. Suspicious emails, however, are the ones that are out of the blue and give you pause.Nefarious hackers have come up with clever email schemes to trick you to into giving them your information. An email could appear to be a friend or an online service you’re familiar with as a way to gain your trust. The body of the email could be a short description like “I thought you might appreciate this: web_link” or “Our records have changed, please update your password at this link: web_link.”You might be asking yourself “We haven’t talked in a year, why is my 2nd cousin sending me a file to look at?” or “Why does my insurance company suddenly want me to update my password?”

What to do

If you think you have received a suspicious email, don’t do anything the email asks you to do. Instead, contact the person in question by phone, text message or a newly composed email. If your friend doesn’t know about the email in question, delete the email. Tell your friend their computer may have a virus or their email have been hacked.If you receive an email from a company asking you to call, click on a link, or update your information, again do not do anything it asks. Doing so may cause a virus on your device or access to your private information. Contact the business by phone, through their website or social media page and ask if the email is legitimate.TL;DR - With any suspicious emails don’t click any links, open any attachments, or reply to the email. Contact the sender and verify that the email is real. You will be glad you did.

How did hackers get your email in the first place?

There are lots of ways for hackers to get your email address. You might have signed up for a service long ago and that service sold off their email list. Your email might be listed in plain sight on a company website or school directory which can be scooped up from automated programs scouring the internet for _____@_____.com. You might have posted it in a comment field or social media site at one point when replying to a friend. Or a virus running a friend’s computer gathered all the email addresses in their contact list for later use.