New Email Scam Tactic | Abbotsford Tech Support

We were recently made aware that we must watch out for this new scam tactic. So, as your friendly neighbourhood IT pros, we wanted to share… along with a recap of some of the usual things to look out for. (Then you can avoid it too if it shows up in your inbox!)

The Usual Suspects

Spotting a phishing email can take some skill – specifically attention to detail. And it definitely takes some education! (Education that we recommend business owners to share with employees.) Of course, we have talked about these red flags in more detail in a previous blog post. (You can find that post here with more details.) But, here again is a quick reminder of the basics…

• Check the sender’s return address. Is it actually from the company it claims to be from?
• Watch for poor spelling and/or grammar.
• Hover your cursor over links in the email. This reveals the actual address it is sending you to, without you having to click on it. Then you can see if they are legit!
• Look out for any that claim something about your account with them, but they do not specifically mention you by name.
• Never use a login link in an email. If you want to check the account they are talking about, open a browser and type in the address of the login page yourself.

The New Scam Tactic

Ok, we’ve talked about the usual scams, how do you watch out for this new scam tactic? This new tactic uses a common tool/spam filter designed to flag suspicious emails. (Cheeky, hey?!) These tools either add an alert when an email comes from an unverified source or verifies legitimate ones. The result is displayed in a thin banner at the top of the email.

In these new scam emails, the sender mimics the ‘green verified’ banner as part of the actual email to elicit a false sense of security. You can see an example in the image below.

Watch out for this Scam Tactic!

It almost looks legitimate. But, it’s not and the attachment shouldn’t be opened. (The recipient of this email also noticed the strange email address and was not expecting this attachment. Wisely, they didn’t open it!)

Are you a Fraser Valley business owner and have worries about your cybersecurity? Contact us on 604-210-9811 or email support@terravistatech.com .