Is your email safe? - Gift Card Scam
I think we have made it!
We recently became the target of a scam. Although we did not fall prey to it we felt it was very important to share with our clients what the scam was so you can take action to prevent it from happening to you.
So what was it?
One of our employees recently received an email from “me”. However, it was actually from a random scammer email asking her to buy me $200 worth of gift cards. The plan was that she would go and buy the cards, send me (the scammer) the codes on the back and then I would pay her back.
She didn’t do it because she knew what to look for and recognized it as a scam. However, we felt it was important to share with you some red flags to help you recognize a scammer.
Five red flags
- Check the email. If you are getting an email from someone, and their request is different than anything you have received before, ensure the email it came from is, in fact, their email.
- Check the signature. Most of us have signatures setup in our email systems and have the same signature on each email. Do you recognize how the email is being sent?
- Are they asking you to buy something or give you a credit card? Major red flags. Also, never send credit card details over email.
- What is their language? When you read the sentences, do they sound like the person who sent you the email? For example, I would never send an email to someone asking, “Have you got some moment right now to chat over mail?” I know my grammar is not always the best, but this isn’t me.
- Are they asking you to do something different? It is okay to say I would love to help you,
- but I need to talk to you on the phone. There is no employer out there that would be mad that you want to protect the company and verify their identity, especially when the request is something different.
We have found this video talking specifically about git card scammers. Feel free to watch it to further educate yourself on their tactics.
If you are serious about keeping your workplace safe and want some extra help, send me an email back. We can help provide you with some additional training or information on how to keep you and your employees safe from scammers.