Spam email and phishing scam risks & Can it be dangerous to open spam emails ?
Spam emails are sent out in mass quantities by the spammers and cybercriminals that are looking to make the money from the recipients that actually respond to the message , They run the phishing scams to obtain passwords , identity details , credit card numbers , bank account details & more , They spread malicious code onto recipients’ computers .
Spam mails & email Scams
Spam is the electronic equivalent of the junk mail which arrives on your doormat or in your postbox , although , spam is more than just annoying , It can be dangerous , especially if it is part of a phishing scam , It includes dangerous links , content or script that can turn dangerous depending on how the users interact with the contents .
Spam mails are electronic unsolicited messages which send to your email address , They are mostly commercial in nature & they may carry malicious contents , There are many countries that encourage spamming or they are without any rules to take strict action against the spammers , The spammers always fight back by using ghost ids & change server location frequently .
Spam mails are used for Phishing , They are the main source of phishing attacks , The spam mail may ask an unsuspecting user to reveal sensitive information such as social security number , credit card details & the other personal details , These spam mail achieve this by including interesting subject line & make it look like coming from authorized sources .
Spam Mails do not just annoy the end user , They also interrupt the business productivity , They cause security risks , bringing with them any number of phishing or malware attacks , Because spam Mails are plentiful & They come in many varieties designed to confuse & manipulate the recipient , It is important to first implement a powerful anti-spam system , But utilizing anti-spam software is only a minimum of what you can do to protect yourself .
Spam mails carry malicious download , They are equipped with small attachments that looks like the zip file , the picture or the document , If the user download the file & click on it , The malware program is activated , When the malware is installed , the malware programmer or hacker on the other end can use this malware to spy & extract the information about the unsuspecting user .
Spam mails waste the bandwidth space , They consume a lot of bandwidth , This is bad length if you are under download limitations , If all the ISPs around the globe can stop spam mails , it will help them save a lot of bandwidth which lead to increased speed , The overall internet speed all over the globe will increase drastically .
Spam email may feature some warning signs where it contains an urgent offer end date (for example “Buy now and get 50% off”) , It contains a request to forward an email to multiple people and may offer the money for doing so and you don’t know the sender .
Spam contains misspellings (for example ‘p0rn’ with a zero) designed to fool spam filters , It makes an offer that seems too good to be true , The subject line and contents do not match , It contains a virus warning and it contains the attachments , which could include .exe files .
Spam can contain viruses & spyware , It can be a vehicle for online fraud , such as phishing , Unwanted email can contain offensive images , Manual filtering & deleting is very time consuming and it takes up space in your inbox .
The spammers obtain your email address when you use automated software to generate addresses , If you entice the people to enter their details on fraudulent websites , In Hacking into legitimate websites to gather the users’ details , when buying email lists from the other spammers , The spammers obtain your email address if you invite the people to click through to fraudulent websites posing as spam email cancellation services .
The spammers have evolved over the time & capable of using different tricks to manipulate the viewers to click on the link , The text file , the document , presentation , image , video , the screensavers and they can carry malicious code that can be used to infect your device .
These days spam is seen as a necessary evil of having an email address , Much has been done to prevent it from happening on your computer , The computer that is running up-to-date versions of Windows and Outlook won’t have a problem because the most recent software has shut down the vulnerabilities these viruses exploit .
Likewise , updated anti-virus software is ideal protection against viruses & the other unwanted malicious software , You have to install Anti-Spam & Anti-Virus Software , One of the most important ways to protect yourself from dangerous spam is to install a powerful anti-spam software and intelligent email filtering .
You have to avoid strange attachments or unfamiliar links , The best policy is to refrain from downloading the files or clicking through the links in an strange email , unless you trust the source , Malware , viruses & the other types of malicious material can be easily downloaded to your server or computer through the attachments or malicious links .
Phishing is the scam where the criminals send emails to thousands of people , These emails pretend to come from the banks , credit card companies , online shops & auction sites as well as the other trusted organizations .
They try to trick you into going to the site , For example , to update your password , to avoid your account being suspended , The embedded link in the email itself goes to the website which looks exactly like the real thing but is a fake designed to trick the victims into entering personal information .
Fake email can look as if it comes from a genuine source , They may contain your name & address , The fraudsters become smarter & use new technology , Phishing attacks are the attempts to steal sensitive information , The idea is to lead the victim to the website that looks legitimate but is in fact bogus & persuade them to enter their information into it , making it available to the attackers .
Phishing Scams are designed to trick you into disclosing information that will lead to defrauding you or stealing your identity , They are delivered in the form of a spam email ( not all spam emails contain scams ) , email scams are emails offering financial , physical or emotional benefits , that are in reality linked to a wide variety of frauds .
Phishing scams appear to come from legitimate businesses , like your bank & contain URLs that link to malicious web pages asking for your private information , Legitimate businesses will never ask for personal information such as the passwords or credit card numbers via email , Giving out your information can lead to drained bank accounts or even identity theft .
Simple rules for emailing & How to protect yourself against spam emails