Scams and Email Frauds
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hitakshiverma01Scams and Email Frauds
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hitakshiverma01TYPES OF SCAMS AND EMAIL FRAUDS
1. Phishing Scams: In this type of email fraud, people receive fraudulent emails that appear as if
they are from trusted organizations such as banks or social media websites. Fraudsters trick
people into providing their personal information.
a. Email Phishing: Most phishing attacks are sent by email. The rogue will register a fake
domain that mimics a real organization and sends thousands of general requests.
Simulated domains often involve character substitution, such as using 'R' and 'N' next to
each other to create 'RN' instead of 'M'.
b. Spear Phishing: There are two other, more sophisticated, types of phishing associated
with email. The first, spear phishing, describes malicious emails sent to a specific person.
Offenders who do so will already have some or all of the following information about the
victim:
i. His name.
ii. Place of employment.
iii. Job title.
iv. Email Address
v. Specific information about their job role.
c. Whaling: Whaling attack is even more targeted, with senior officers being targeted.
Although the ultimate goal of whaling is the same as any other type of phishing attack,
the technique tends to be much higher. Tricks like fake e-links and malicious URLs are
not helpful in this instance, as criminals are attempting to mimic senior employees.
d. Smashing and Wishing: With both smishing and wishing, telephones replace email as
a method of communication. Smashing involves sending text messages to criminals (the
content of which is similar to email phishing), and wishing involves telephone
conversations.
e. Angler Phishing: A relatively new attack vector, social media offers criminals many
ways to deceive people. Fake URLs; cloned websites, posts and tweets; And instant
messaging (which is essentially the same as smishing) can be used to persuade all people
to reveal sensitive information or download malware.
2. Fake lottery scams: In this type of email fraud, people receive emails informing them that they have
won a lottery in which they did not participate. The fraudsters then ask for the winner's personal and
financial information to claim the prize.
3. Nigerian scam: This is an email fraud that is famous all over the world. In such instances, fraudsters
take the form of a wealthy Nigerian prince or wealthy businessman and offer huge cash amounts in
exchange for small amounts of money or personal information.
4. Charity scam: In this type of email fraud, criminals ask the recipient to donate money to a charity that
does not exist. They either ask for direct payments, or trick people into submitting credit card details.
5. "Spear Phishing" scam: This is a highly personal attack involving a carefully crafted email, message or
voicemail that appears to be from a familiar sender. The fraudster would have already collected data on
the target person to be able to share valuable information to them.
WAYS TO PREVENT FROM SCAMS AND EMAIL
FRAUD
Verify links before you click them. Hover over the link to see if the info (sender/website address)
matches what you expect
Avoid sending sensitive information over email or texts
Back up information so that you have another copy
Apply software updates and patches
Filter spam emails (unsolicited junk emails sent in bulk)
Block IP addresses, domain names, and file types that you know to be bad
Call the sender to verify legitimacy (e.g. if you receive a call from your bank, hang up and call
them)
Use anti-phishing software that aligns with the Domain-based Message Authentication,
Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) policy
Reduce the amount of personal information you post online (e.g. phone numbers and extensions
for employees)
Establish protocols and procedures for your employees to internally verify suspicious
communications. This should include an easy way for staff to report phishing attacks
Update your organization’s incident response plan to include how to react if you’re hit with a
phishing attack
Use multi-factor authentication on all systems, especially on shared corporate media accounts.