What to Do With the Suspicious Emails & How to Report It?

Scam Emails Are Becoming a Common Type of Cyber Crime That You Cannot Take for Granted – Guide on How to Report Scam Emails?

According to the 2022s State of the Phish Report by Proofpoint, more than 80% of organizations have become victims of scam email attacks. Phishing email has existed for a very long time, and it’s one of the most common cybercrimes that people become victims of.

Having the right knowledge about how to tell if an email is a scam is an essential part. Likewise, if you get an email that you think is not genuine, then what to do about it is also equally important.

Let’s get into details and find out how to tell you’ve received a scam mail and what to do with such suspicious scam emails.

Here’s How to Tell if an Email Is a Scam

Here below are some of the common indicators that you should look for to find out whether an email is a scam:

• Email accounts are inexpensive or free.
• The sender’s email address doesn’t match with the sender’s name.
• The sender’s email information doesn’t check an entity or organization from which it claims it’s coming.
• The email contains links to other websites that don’t match with the anchor text.
• The tone of email message content creates urgency, threat, pushy, or desperation.
• The email content is manipulative or tricky to make you do something you shouldn’t be doing.
• An email comes with unsolicited attachment files like PDFs, images, and office files that may have hidden malware.
• The sender’s email may have a public domain which is quite generic.
• The name of the domain is wrong or misspelled.
• An email message is poorly written in regards to Grammar and Spelling.
• The email promises cash or other prizes that are quite rare.

What to Do With Suspicious Emails?

You can’t completely stop suspicious scam emails. But, you can take certain steps to avoid becoming a victim of it. First and foremost, the thing you can do is to avoid opening it. Though, if you opened such a suspicious email, at least you can:

• Avoid clicking links to that email.
• Opening attachments received in an email such as Excel spreadsheets, image files, or Word documents.
• Avoid sending any file or information email asks you to send through an email.

You should report such scam emails. Likewise, correctly understanding how to report scam emails differs depending on the location, situations, and other factors.

Let’s know in detail and find out how to report scam emails that you receive inside and outside your company or an organization.

Report Scam Emails Within Organization

Usually, the IT team’s responsibility is to implement spam and phishing prevention techniques and methods. However, some scam emails and other suspicious emails bypass such preventive measures and end up getting into your email inbox.

But that’s also true that being an employee, it’s also your responsibility to make your IT team aware of such incidents of scam emails whenever you come across them. Likewise, it should be covered as employee awareness training by an organization so employees can get to know if an email message is a scam and report it.

Further, while reporting such type of information regarding scam emails, employees should provide to the IT department are:

• Email message screenshot
• Information on the email header
• Other relevant information

To access Message Header, you’ll require to add the Message Header command within the quick bar of Outlook, and for that, below are the steps:

• Click the dropdown menu with a down arrow from the right navigation ribbon.
• Select and Click Show Quick Access Toolbar
• Select More Commands > Customize Access Toolbar dropdown menu from the new toolbar.
• Go to the top dropdown menu from the Outlook Options window and select All Commands.
• Scroll down further & select Message Header
• Press Add and then click OK to add it within Outlook’s Quick Access Toolbar

Report Emails to Service Providers

You can directly report scam emails to your email service providers. It’s quite easier as most email providers and clients have integrated reporting systems within their email platforms. For instance, if you look through Gmail, you’ll get an option of Report Phishing in the three-dot menu, which you can find besides the Reply button. Likewise, if you’re in your inbox and don’t want to open the email message, you can simply right-click the Message and press the Report Spam option.

A Screenshot Showing the “Report Phishing” Button Within Gmail Accessed Using Google Chrome Browser

And, if you’re using Outlook, then you will need to right-click the Message from your inbox or navigate directly to Message > Block Sender menu table like below:

A Screenshot Showing How to Find Tools for Blocking Junk Mails in Outlook

Reporting About Scam Emails to Mimicked Organizations & Businesses

It’s the last but essential option for which you’ll need to take an extra step to help others who’re becoming the victim of cyber scams. Once you report spam on the email platform, it’s equally important that you also inform the company or an organization whose reputation is tarnished. It’ll be beneficial if you inform the business or organization how fake email is spread across the internet and their name is used, so they can further take essential steps about it.

Read also about How to Send An Encrypted Email from Outlook

Closing Thoughts

Taking necessary security measures is of utmost importance for organizations and businesses. This article discussed how to detect scam emails that may become a source for cybercriminals to get into your system. Likewise, how to report it so you don’t get any scam emails in the future if it happens to end up in your inbox. Lastly, it’s recommended that you keep collecting such scam emails with you and try using it as an example to educate your employees about how scammers use fake emails to get into a system or collect critical information to use it for their personal benefit.

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