From tall tales of stranded travellers and far-flung billionaires just desperate to offload some dough to online shopping account warnings with barely a word spelled correctly, we’re conditioned to treat unsolicited emails with caution.
Interestingly, though, there’s a school of thought that states these spelling and grammar errors are deliberate.
The theory seems to be that anyone who doesn’t immediately detect the mistakes is more likely to click a rogue link or divulge sensitive information.
This one’s a personal favourite…
And this one…
Oh, and this one…
The point, of course, is that for every 10 or so painfully obvious scam emails, there’ll be one that’s reasonably convincing. Our lives are frenetic and we don’t pay full attention to everything that appears in our inbox. More importantly, every now and then a phishing email appears at exactly the moment you’re expecting something legitimate from the precise person/company it purports to be from. It’s not as difficult a con to pull off as it used to be purely because so many of us have online accounts for everything from train tickets to takeaways.
Tech Advisor has a handy list of basic tips for avoiding getting scammed but the key message is to be vigilant. And don’t believe everything you read… unless it came from a trusted source.
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