Linked: American Express Did Not Send This Email
Rick does a good job of describing how he can look at this email and determine that it’s a scam, but maybe this is the easiest one:
“Finally, if AmEx is going to give me a credit, they will just credit the account, and explain the credit on the account page. There are other clues; but, hopefully you get the picture.There are other clues; but, hopefully you get the picture. Read those emails carefully. Never click on a link in an email; especially one that tells you are going to get money, or promises an inheritance from an uncle in Africa. Be careful out there. Jeez. “
The part of our brain that wants to make decisions without wasting any time thinking about them, which comes in handy some of the time, betrays us when it comes to emails. It wants to simply do what the email says and click the link to be sure everything is OK. But we would do well to stop and think when confronted with this kind of email, or phone call and consider:
- Like Rick’s example, your bank or credit card company doesn’t need your account info to credit you. They already have it.
- Other businesses rarely, if ever, just hand out money you weren’t expecting, and usually they’ll send a check or credit the account info they already have as well.
- Anyone claiming to be ready to issue a subpoena has to be able to tell you why. And rarely do you get a phone call warning you about it let alone offering to let you pay your way out of it.
- Anyone claiming you owe a debt, has to be prepared to give you the details. If they are unable to give you details, they are not legitimately collecting a debt.
- And finally, tech support doesn’t call you, you call them when you have a problem.
Bottom line, any time someone reaches out to you about your computer, your accounts, or your money, etc., go to that account yourself and login, do not follow a link or go to a site that is given to you over the phone. If they really are trying to reach you, the information will be there. If there’s nothing of the sort, it was probably a scam.
https://futurelawyer.typepad.com/futurelawyer/2020/02/american-express-did-not-send-this-email.html
Thanks, Mike McBride Online. Always good to be reminded of the basics. Because I’m a proofreader, I treat errors in punctuation and grammar as red flags as well. And, I look at the real email address of the sender (not just the stated one).