Email Safety Tips

Email is a wonderful way of communicating and an essential tool for business. Email is also used by criminals who would love to trick you out of your money, steal your passwords, or lure you into a fraudulent scheme. In fact, over half of all email worldwide was spam in 2016. Global crackdowns on scammers have reduced the percentage, but around a third of all email is still spam (2019 statistics).

Fraudulent emails include pleas for financial aid, a promise of a well-paying job, easy money, and love to name but a few. A touch of skepticism, some common sense, and knowing what a legitimate business will and won’t do can help you protect yourself from identity theft and fraud. Here are some email safety tips to help.

1. NEVER respond to a request to send banking account information, a username, a PIN, or your Social Security number through email. You will never receive a legitimate request from a bank or financial institution or from any government entity requesting this information be sent via email. Contact your bank by phone or through their website should you receive a request or notification.
2. Don’t click any links in a suspicious email. To access the company’s website, open your browser and type in the proper website address.
3. Who really sent you the email? The name in the from field can be anything, but you can check the sender’s email address to help determine authenticity. Does the message say it’s from the Fraud Center at Chase Bank but the email address is not from chase.com? If there are links in the message, point to the link—but don’t click—and look for the pop-up box with the web address. Is it the legitimate web address of the entity asking for the information?
4. Make sure that your computer’s software, including operating system, antivirus app, and browser(s) are all up-to-date. All of these work together to identify and block dangerous emails and malware.
5. Only download attachments (photos, documents, etc.) from trusted sources that you know are legitimate and have a reason to send you an attachment.
6. Always log out after accessing email on a public computer. Consider using an anonymous browser window any time you are using a public computer.
7. Strong unique passwords are very important for online security. This is especially true for your email account. Password resets are often verified with an email message, meaning anyone with access to your account may be able to quickly and easily reset your passwords
8. Always sign into email through a secure connection. Browsers indicate a secure connection with the closed lock icon.
   
9. Enable multi-factor authentication (2-factor authentication or 2-factor verification) on your account. There is simply no better way to protect any online account–it stops hackers in their tracks!
10. Be careful about public Wi-Fi connections at hotels, coffee shops, and elsewhere. They are often insecure and easy to spoof.
11. Share your email address only with trusted sources. Be careful about posting your email address in chat rooms and public places. Consider having a generic email address for newsletters and websites and a second one for private communications.
12. Many viruses spread from forwarded emails – you know the ones, the funny emails you just have to pass on? Many of these are spread unknowingly by friends and family. Pay attention to any warnings that appear in your antivirus software.
13. Never reply to spam emails or click on “click here to be removed.” That only verifies that they have hit a real email address.
14. Change your passwords if you suspect fraud, suffer the loss of an employee or have a change in relationships that might create a risk.
15. Consider all email messages to be public!