3 Risky Email Attachments That Could Be Hiding Viruses and Scams—Avoid Clicking These!

Scammers and hackers are getting so much more savvy about how they gain access to your data. There may be times when you are SO CLOSE to clicking on an unfamiliar email attachment, sent to you by someone claiming they know you. Other times, these emails may claim they are from specific shops that you’ve just recently visited or even government agencies that you don’t want any trouble with — naturally, you may feel like clicking on emails and attachments may help you in some way.

But, more often than not, these emails are proving to be scams. Worse: they can give your phone or computer a virus that saps it of sensitive data and causes you an abundance of headaches. Avoid the scary inconvenience of getting hacked or scammed by avoiding these three types of risky email attachments.

1. Emails That Promise Rewards

Let’s face facts: no one is winning millions of dollars via a random sweepstakes that they didn’t even enter but found out they won via a very mysterious email. Sweepstakes winnings simply don’t work that way. But hackers understand that they may appeal to someone’s emotions by promising them that they’ve just won something big — all of their worries are about to vanish — and all they have to do is click on one link to retrieve their prize. Don’t fall for these scams. If you investigate a bit you’ll find the sender’s email address is likely a jumbled-up mess of letters and numbers from a random Gmail or older email account.

2. Phishing Emails

You’ll know a phishing email by the way the sender requests specific personal information about you. The sender may claim that info like social security numbers and banking information is needed to clear up some kind of imaginary problem you are facing with an account. Don’t buy it. Never give your personal information to anyone without first verifying that the sender is legit.

3. Promos

You may be wondering why you’re suddenly receiving so many “exclusive” deals and promotions for products and services — don’t click on links or attachments that arrive with these emails, as they are scams. These scams make it seem as if you are gaining access to inside information about certain companies and products (sometimes products you have purchased in the past). They’ll likely claim they are urgent, too — that you are receiving a once-in-a-lifetime offer and need to act swiftly. But clicking on attachments can lead to the sender encrypting your files and actually demanding a ransom for their release — this is called ransomware. If an offer or promo seems too good to be true — AND it’s not from the company, but from a suspicious-looking email address, never click on it.