Recognizing spam scams

A few indicators can help you identify spam (unsolicited emails) in your mailbox. If a message fulfills the following criteria, it is most likely spam.

•The sender's address does not belong to someone on your contact list.

•You are offered a large sum, but you have to provide a small sum first.

•Under various pretenses (data verification, Financial operations), you are asked to enter some of your data, bank account numbers, usernames and passwords, etc.

•It is written in a foreign language.

•You are asked to buy a product you are not interested in. If you decide to purchase anyway, verify that the message sender is a reliable vendor (consult the original product manufacturer).

•Some of the words are misspelled in an attempt to trick your spam filter. For example, “vaigra” instead of “viagra”.