In this article we will go through
- What is spam,
- How to distinguish spam emails from non-spam emails
- Some different ways of blocking spam emails and spam domains
- What to do if you’ve opened a spam email.
What is Spam?
Email spam, also known as junk email is when unsolicited messages are sent by email. Many email spam messages are commercial in nature but may also contain disguised links that appear to be for familiar websites but in fact lead to phishing sites or sites that host malware (e.g. viruses). Phishing sites attempt to get sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, identity and financial/credit card details, often for malicious reasons, by disguising themselves as trustworthy sites and sources, such as banks, charities, etc. Spam email may also include malware as scripts or other executable file attachments.
Fun fact: Spam is named after the luncheon meat by way of a Monty Python sketch, in which Spam in the sketch is ubiquitous, unavoidable and repetitive (below).
How can I tell which emails are spam and which aren’t?
In the highly unlikely case that you do indeed have friends who
a) are Nigerian princes and/or
b) are chronically in need of $10,000 wire transfers,
Here is a quick guide on how to differentiate a potentially harmful spam email from a harmless email of cute puppies that your mother/colleague/partner sent to all of their friends.
1. Don’t click on anything in the email
If there are any links, attachments or downloads in a suspicious email, it’s advisable NOT to click on them as they may lead to fraudulent sites or download malware/viruses to your PC. Instead, hover your mouse over any links, and this will bring up a preview of the link URL. In the example you can see below how the link preview shows a different website is being linked under the seemingly legitimate PayPal link.
2. Check the domain/email address
The name might look like an official organization, but if their domain name or email address doesn’t match up, it’s probably spam – see below for an example.
Likewise, the name on the email might be someone you know, but if it doesn’t look like their email address it probably isn’t them.
In the below example, look at the sender’s address. [email protected] 0is extremely suspicious – especially because the subject of the email is asking for Credit Card applications.
3. WARNING!!! Emails
Invoking a sense of urgency or fear is a common phishing tactic. Beware of subject lines that claim your “account has been suspended” or your account had an “unauthorized login attempt.”
Also, if important or well-known institutions send emails stating that they are “closing down”, or “discontinuing support”, this often means the email is spam.
4. Poor Grammar/Spelling
Often, the people behind spam emails don’t really care about their spelling, formatting, etc. – they’re too busy trying to get their spam out into the world! A dead giveaway is if the email has commas and full stops separating words without a space like,this, and it otherwise looks like a real email from Microsoft, it isn’t real.
Other giveaways:
- Generic salutations like “dear valued customer”, or some other vague greeting, rather than addressing your full name directly
- Unprofessional fonts and/or colours
- Lack of details about the sender, as legitimate businesses always provide contact details – or incorrect/dodgy looking details
THAT BEING SAID, some spam emails actually do use quite convincing logos and formatting, so it’s best if you look closely at the content of the email and the header to determine whether or not the email is spam.
Different ways of blocking spam emails and spam domains
After you’ve confirmed an email is spam, you have the power to block all emails from that sender by right-clicking the email, then hovering over the ‘Junk’ selection, and finally clicking on the ‘Block Sender’ option.
Of course, you can also forward the email to [email protected], and we will be able to block it from our side.
What to do if you’ve opened a malicious email?
Don’t panic – yes, you clicked on the link – but it’s not the end of the world…
Call or email the AlphaSys Support Team
You can call our team on (02) 9016 4449, or send us through an email to support notifying us that you’ve received and/or opened a malicious email.