Your spam filter will hopefully pick up the majority of erroneous fake emails doing the rounds but, should one slip through the net, here are 6 key clues to look out for, based on the above message, to help ensure you click DELETE!
1. Sending ‘From’ Address
Firstly, check out the sending email address for any incoming emails.
If you recognise the ‘From’ address, that is a positive point in the email’s favour (but no guarantee).
If not, and if it bears no resemblance to the normal expected email address, be cautious!
2. Time of Message
Does the timing make sense – some scammers send messages out of hours to try and hide the activity.
In this case, the message was sent in the morning for a voicemail purportedly left the day before.
The genuine voicemail emails usually arrive within minutes of the voicemail being left so, again, this change in timing is cause for concern.
3. Receiving ‘To’ Address
Like the sending address, if the receiving email address is different to the one used by legitimate voicemails, in the case of this user, this is another flag that something is not quite right.
4. Link Destination
Rogue emails will often contain links.
Whatever you do, DO NOT CLICK on any links until you are 100% sure that the email is genuine.
You can, however, HOVER over the link WITHOUT clicking in order to see the link destination.
In this case, amercianextmodels.com is definitely not the domain the voicemail messages would come from.
5. Typos
Finally, in case you need any further proof that this is not a genuine email, a typo in the ‘standard’ text is also a great indicator that all is not well.
If you spot any or all of these signs, please do be cautious.
If you’re still not sure whether a message is genuine, our advice would be to call the company to double-check or log in to your account for reassurance. In either case, use independent contact details from anything contained within a suspicious email.
If you do decide to delete, it never hurts to let colleagues know in case similar emails are coming in. Don’t forward your own example on as part of any warning!
If you’re still unsure, please do give us a call on 0118 9767111 so we can put your mind further at ease.