Email is a cheap and easy way for fraudsters and identity thieves to contact thousands of people at once, and email addresses are easy to get hold of either by trawling through other websites for those emails that have been published online (such as on forums, social sites, members list and staff contact details,) and many websites that collect the personal email addresses of their members/visitors also offer these extensive lists for sale to third parties.
 
Identity thieves will then use emails for a number of fraudulent purposes, and hackers can also use them to infect another person’s computer with malicious programs such as spyware and viruses, and these are usually carried in the form of attachments.  You should never open an email from someone you don’t know, and always scan all attachments (even from a trusted source) before you open it on your computer.

Spam

Spam is the term used for any unsolicited emails that come into your inbox, and you should have spam filters set on your email account to help prevent these annoying and potentially harmful emails from reaching you.

Phishing

Phishing is the used by identity thieves to try and trick another person into handing over their online bank/email account log in details by sending emails masquerading as legitimate organisations.  These emails can often be very authentic looking, and will either ask you to reply with your sensitive details, or to log in using the link in the email that will take you to a fake version of the account welcome page, which will record the details you input.  Remember that no legitimate organisation or financial institution would ever ask you for sensitive account details over the email, so you should be instantly suspicious of any request like this, and refer back to your provider’s customer service team before taking any further action.  If you do want to check your log in details only ever log on by visiting the providers main welcome page directly, and never through a link in an email.

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