Hoax emails the most popular email fraud | Email

By J.Maier
Total views: 13
Word Count: 954

It is a very common sight in to find Hoax Emails in you Inbox these days cine E-mail is now one of the most essential modes of communication in the world. Due the popularity media this also means it's also one of the most common routes for fraud and viruses infections. Some of the most common email frauds that are committed using this method are listed below.

Phishing Scams: A high tech "Phishing" scam which uses pop-up or spam messages to deceive you into disclosing you personal information such as passwords, bank account or credit card numbers, Social Security numbers or anything that is confidential. The object of this hoax email scam is Identity theft. The fraudulent email is sent from the phisher that is designed to look to be sent from a reputable company. But when you click on the web link in the email it directs you to spoof site that looks like the reputable company completing the email fraud. Usually the message are asked to "update" your account information or it says that the account has been locked or hacked and ask you to click on the web link provided to correct the problem and once you do and enter you information it goes directly to the phisher that uses your information for identity theft which is used to make withdrawals from your bank along with credit cards or to request new credit cards which are quickly maxed out, etc. Recent phishing attacks have spoofed the email and websites of known companies, including Yahoo, Pfizer, Bank of America, Microsoft, and eBay, PayPal, among others.

Work-At-Home Scams: These are some of the more tempting spam and hoax emails scams. They offer those who need to make extra money the opportunity to do so, and invariably the email will state: "no experience necessary." The scammer often claims to have "inside information," and tries to bait you with the lure of quick money for next to no effort. More often than not, you are asked to pay anywhere from $35 to several hundred dollars to purchase the kits or materials that will not earn you a dime. There are other types of this email fraud that offer other types of employment and easy money but are the same type of scam. This some examples of this type of scams offer opportunities involving handicrafts, stuffing envelopes or medical billing on your home PC. If you fall for this email fraud and pay the fees for the handicraft or envelop-stuffing "kit," and complete the assembly of the crafts as instructed, you will be informed that your work is of poor quality and not worth paying for. If you sign up for the medical billing "opportunity," you will be asked to purchase a list of doctors. These doctors are either fictional or do not want or need your services and never did. There are other hoax emails that offer similar opportunities.

Credit Repair Scams: This scam offers the promise to erase real or usually correct negative information that shows up on your credit report, in the hoax email it usually says that you can qualify for unsecured credit cards, loads and mortgages, etc. Due to the current credit problems that many people suffer from this email fraud has become a very popular scam. The offered services usually don't live up to their promise and in some cases they cause many other problems in the long run. Also they have been known to make bad suggestion such as committing fraud e.g. lying about you social security number.

Guaranteed loans on easy terms: Some scam hoax emails make guarantees of unsecured credit, such as home-equity loans that have no require equity in your house or credit cards no matter what your history of credit. This is another popular type of email fraud again due to people with credit problems. Usually the offered credit comes from off-shore bank. The scam email fraud is usually part of a pyramid scheme, which encourages you to earn money by signing up your family and friends to participate in the opportunity potential. After you find out the promised offers of home equity loan turns out to be list of lenders that is useless and they will turn you down since you don't meet the qualifications. The promised from the pyramid money-making and promised credit cards never come through and the schemes usually collapse.

Below are some of the other common hoax emails that you will see. The key tipoff's can be gleaned from the subject line or the content. Rather than using your personal name, they may say 'Dear valued customer'. But finding some variant of your name isn't difficult these days. Beware, in either case. Supposedly free giveaways in exchange for forwarding emails or possibly bogus virus alerts or false appeals to help sick children even pointless petitions that lead nowhere and accomplish nothing and dire, and completely fictional, warnings about products, companies, government policies or coming events.

Avoiding these email fraud messages is not easy there is some specialized software that will find these phishing hoax emails, though it has not reached maturity since it identifies even legitimate e-mail as fraud. Requests for credit card numbers or for passwords should be treated with suspicion. Keep in mind no legitimate institutions of finance ask for you to verify your sensitive data or password in an e-mail. With a bit of foreknowledge the good news is that Hoax emails are not hard to detect as email fraud. Within the average email filled with colorful prose often has indicators telling of the emails veracity.

About the Author

email hoax and fraud

You are here Articles > Internet > Tools and Resources > Email