Email scams are getting more and more complicated by the day. They’re not as obvious as they used to be, when it was easy to tell that you didn’t have a Nigerian Prince that your family hadn’t told you about.
Google and its sister company Jigsaw has recognised that this is a problem with tech users and has developed a quiz so you can test your skills.
In order to be wary of email scams, it’s important to look at a few things:
1. Is the email address correct?
If you get emails usually from Google, check that the email is correct. If you’re unsure, you can Google it to make sure that it’s legit. Most email addresses from businesses have the business name in the email address. It’s important to note that some emails will use a lookalike email, so it looks similar to the emails you’re used to, but it’s incorrect.
2. Check the links
Hover over the links if you’re on a desktop computer or press and hold on your phone for the link to come up. If it says it’s a Google Drive link but doesn’t have the correct Google URL, it’s spam. If it ends in tiny.url or something else that just seems odd, don’t follow the links.
3. Check the grammar and spelling of the email
If the spelling and grammar is a bit all over the place and you’re not expecting an email from an old family friend anytime soon, it’s probably a spam account.
4. Don’t open any attachments you’re not expecting
PDFs, links to photos and links that take you off the email and onto another website can contain malware that will harm your computer and gain access to your information.
Are you ready to test your skills? The quiz doesn’t need any real data, so you’re able to put in a fake name and email. Take the quiz here.
This article was written in partnership with Over60.