As technology advances, so does the scheming. We’d probably all like to think we’ve got the discerning eye of a gumshoe when it comes to recognizing a scam. But the truth is, scammers don’t show up on our doorsteps with their slicked back hair and smooth talking ways anymore. Instead, we receive emails that look legitimate and they have just enough relevant information to make us assume they are the real deal. So how do you identify an email scam and save yourself from a financial and technological headache?

Being targeted by an email scam doesn’t mean you have to act aggresively with your inbox, but it does take some due diligence. Recently, Barbara Corcoran of Shark Tank fame was in the news for losing $400,000 from an email scam. In this case, the scammer used an email address similar to Corcoran’s assistant, an easy enough mistake to miss, but resulted in her wiring a large sum of money to the scammer. Thankfully, her money was later recovered. Corcoran fell for what is called a “phishing scam.”

While you may not get a request for a wire transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars, you might see one like this show up in your inbox.

What Should I Do When I Receive Questionable Emails?

1. Don’t panic. It’s easy to react when you receive an email that is threatening to shut down your website. These scams often come with accelerated timelines to resolve the “issue” in order to get you to act out of fear.

2. DON’T CLICK ANY LINKS! This is the number one way to keep your website and computer safeguarded from a scam or virus. Hovering over the link with your cursor may also give a clue as to the destination of that link and it’s usually easy to see at that point if there is a conflict of information

3. Verify the source. Compare the sender’s address to your original contact. Is a letter wrong/missing/off? Don’t trust the physical address at the bottom of the email either, anyone can type anything there.

4. Resist the urge to enter any personal information, passwords, banking or credit card information in order to fix the “error.”

5. Check your bank statements or credit card bill so you can see if you have recently paid that bill or invoice.

6. Still not sure? If you think a domain renewal request or Squarespace billing email might be a scam, contact our scam busting force at One Wheel Marketing to see if you’re being phished for.