Do you know the warning signs to look for?
Take a look at the email example and fake text message below.
Click on the information icons to reveal the warning – and see if you spotted it, too.
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My
Inbox
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom
Smith <tomfbiguy@ freeemail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2018 10:46 AM
To: My
Email <myemail@myprovider.com>
Subject: reply to this email to prevent arrest
Hello.
I am Tom Smith from the FBI. As part of an ongoing drug trafficking investigation, we intercepted an envelope en route to your home address containing a large sum of money and account information that we believe belongs to you.
We believe you could be involved in a serious crime, but you could save your own skin.
Take action now to avoid prosecution. Reply immediately to this email to verify your bank details.
If you do not act now, law enforcement will be dispatched to your home.
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If you see one or more of these red flags, contact the organization the sender claims to be from to help confirm the legitimacy of the email or text message. Do this by using a phone number or email you found through a trusted source for the organization. Do not use phone numbers or email addresses included in the suspicious message.
Cyber Aware has more detailed explanations and examples to help you identify possible warning signs in email and text messages on these pages: