Email Scams. You know them. You've gotten them before. The famous Nigerian Prince, the Russian Bride, and all those lotteries you win without ever having signed up for. The problem is that they're all fake, and they all have very dangerous consequences for those that fall for them. A common misconception is that only the greedy would ever fall for scams like them, but it's really the hopeful poor and the elderly that suffer the most from these ruthless scammers. It's honestly quite depressing, and the stigma against those who get scammed often stops them from being able to find the support they need afterwards and can at times lead to them being vulnerable to being scammed again. In this report, I hope to go over some of the common warning signs and how to both avoid and cope with scams.
First, the best way to keep your email secure is to not use it very often. Simply giving your email out to hundreds of sites will eventually lead to one being shady or one being hacked. Keep your professional email clean from sites you don't need active updates from, and use a different email you won't mind getting spammed for other, less important sites. Another way is to use the site haveibeenpwned.com, which is an amazing site that searches for any lists that your email could appear on. If you fear that your address may have been leaked, checking it in this site will help confirm or deny it, which can be quite useful for knowing when to block and when to abandon ship.
When you do, inevitably, get scam emails, the most important thing is to never click on a link they send. It's always more wise that even if you got a completely non suspicious email, you should go to the site that claims to have sent it first unless you asked for the email (i.e. a password reset email). Another careful thing to consider is the formatting. Some phrases are quite common in scam emails but would never be used by the official company, as well as plenty of other problems such as typos and formatting errors. This isn't because the scammers are stupid, however. Often, these mistakes are purposefully made so that they don't accidentally hook someone who'll think critically about it further down the line and waste the scammer's time.
If you do get scammed, realize there's no shame in it. If scamming wasn't a successful profession, there wouldn't be as many scammers as there are. Don't fall prey to the sunk cost fallacy and think that even if you've already dunked 5,000$ into a scam, maybe it's real and the next 1,000$ payment will pay off. It won't happen. Ask for support from others if possible, and search for ways to make sure it never happens again. The chance of you being reimbursed for any damages from scamming is nonexistent, so don't trust any emails that come claiming that they're anti-fraud or will pay back the money you stole, as it's a common scam to get two payments off the same mark. Sadly, the best thing to do when you've been scammed is to pack it up, report any legal information of the scammers (bank numbers, pseudonyms or real names, addresses) to the appropriate authorities, and keep a critical eye out for any future emails or other too good to be true offers.
Adventure Van, signing out.
