A lot of businesses are struggling during the COVID-19 crisis. Many people are staying home…either out of work or working remotely? This is a perfect opportunity for one business to flourish…the Email Scammer. Think about it. How many more emails are we sending to the people we work with? How many us are used to conducting business like this? How many of us are a little panicked or on edge? This is a perfect storm for email scammers. Here’s some helpful hints:
- Check the email address: Depending on the scammer, sometimes the incoming email address looks fine, but when you reply, it’ll reply to a different email address.
- Does the email sound right: While scammers can make an email look like it’s coming from the person in charge, they can’t impersonate the tone. Does it sound like the Pastor or the Boss? Does it have their regular email signature?
- Text or call to confirm: If something looks fishy, but you still aren’t sure, instead of emailing back, give them a quick text or phone call.
Below is a video where I document an attempted email scam. After seeing a TED Talk by James Veitch where he messes with email scammers, I decided to have some fun too. I figure that if I’m wasting the scammers time, he’s not ruining anyone else’s finances. Someone was pretending to be my co-worker Sheri so I played along. I’m not recommending you do this with any scammer.
Useful Links
- Tips for protecting yourself from scammers: https://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/online-safety-basics/spam-and-phishing/
- James Veitch (Comedian): https://www.veitch.me/
- Blog post from American Church Group: https://www.americanchurchgroup-dakotas.com/ministry-resources/blog/covid-19-cyber-scams/
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