Fraud Cleanup

Is This Email a Scam? How to Read It and Decide

You have the email open. Read it like evidence before you touch anything in it. Here is how to judge it fast.

You have the email open, and you need to decide. Do not click anything yet. Read it like a detective reads a note: slowly, and with doubt. The FBI says phishing emails are built to get your personal information or your financial credentials. So treat the email as evidence, not as a message you have to answer.

How to read a suspicious email before you do anything

Start with the sender, not the story. The FBI says scammers use slight differences in email addresses, URLs and spelling to trick your eye and earn your trust. A name can look right while the address behind it is off by one letter. Open the address itself and read it letter by letter.

Then ask the question the FTC tells you to ask: do you have an account with this company, or do you know this person? The FTC says if the answer is no, it could be a phishing scam.

The story comes last. The FTC says scammers use email to trick you into giving up passwords, account numbers or your Social Security number. Ask what the email wants from you. A real message rarely needs your password. The FBI says companies generally do not contact you to ask for your username or password. An email that asks for either deserves suspicion.

The stories scam emails tell

The FTC says a phishing email works like a setup. It spins a tale so you will open an attachment or follow a link. The stories repeat.

  • The alarm story. The FTC says a scammer might claim there was suspicious activity or log-in attempts when there were none.
  • The billing story. The FTC says a scammer might claim there is a problem with your account or your payment information when there is not. The FTC says one sign of a scam email is that it says your account is on hold because of a billing problem.
  • The confirmation story. The FTC says a scammer might ask you to confirm personal or financial information you never needed to confirm.
  • The invoice story. The FTC says a scammer might attach an invoice you do not recognize. It is fake.
  • The payment story. The FTC says the scammer may push a link for paying a bill. The link is the trap, not the bill. The link can carry malware.
  • The free money story. The FTC says a scammer might say you can register for a government refund, or offer a coupon for free stuff. Neither is real.

The FBI says scammers typically pose as a creditor, a bank or a state benefits agency. Those names sound official. That is the point of using them.

Signs the email is a scam

The FTC says learning the common signs of a scam helps you avoid one. Here are the ones to check in the email in front of you.

It pushes a link to update payment details. The FTC says legitimate companies will not email or text you a link to update your payment information. An invitation like that is a sign on its own.

The writing is rough. PayPal's security page says typos, misspellings and bad grammar are common in phishing messages.

There is an attachment you did not expect. PayPal says attachments can contain malware, and you should never open one unless you are completely sure it is legitimate. The FTC says attachments and links can install harmful malware.

The logo looks right, and that means nothing. The FTC says a scam email may use a company's real logo in the header and still be fake. PayPal says an authentic PayPal email shows the company logo and a checkmark in your email inbox view. For a PayPal email, a missing checkmark is worth noticing. A present one is not proof on its own.

It asks for account info in the message. PayPal says you should never give personal, credit card or account info through email, text or phone. Any email asking for that is out of line, no matter who it claims to be.

The email is from a company you use. That does not make it real. Judge the message, not the brand.

No. The FBI says not to click on anything in an unsolicited email. Want to know if the request is real? The FBI says to look up the company's phone number on your own and call to ask. Use the number on your bill or your card, never the one in the email.

If you already clicked and now wonder about the page you landed on, read about is this a scam website next. And if the link itself is what worries you, the page on is this a scam link covers how to judge one.

What to do with the email once you suspect it

Do not just delete it. The FTC says if you see signs of a phishing scam, report the message and then delete it. Reporting comes first.

The FTC says to forward a phishing email to the Anti-Phishing Working Group at reportphishing@apwg.org. The FTC also says to report the attempt at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FBI says to report spoofing and phishing to its Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. Pick the reporting that fits you.

After you report it, delete the email. Watch your accounts for anything odd for a while, and change a password if it makes you feel better.

How to make the next scam email matter less

You cannot stop scammers from sending email. You can make their email worth less.

The FTC says your email spam filters might keep many phishing emails out of your inbox. It also says scammers keep trying to outsmart those filters, so add layers of your own.

The FTC says to protect your computer with security software set to update automatically, and to set your phone's software to update automatically too. It says to protect your accounts with multi-factor authentication. That makes it harder for scammers to log in, even if they get your username and password. It says to protect your data by backing it up.

Why does this matter? The FTC says scammers who get your information could get into your email, your bank or your other accounts. They could also sell your information to other scammers. And phishing emails can lead to identity theft for people who hand their information over.

One more thing. This page is about email. If the message came by text instead, start with is this a scam text. If a caller left a number and you want to check it, the is this phone number a scam lookup page covers that.

Sources