Two Recent Scams Show How Tricky Phishing Emails Can Be

I would like to think that as time goes by that we're learning more and more about how to spot phishing e-mail scams, but the more we learn about what scammers are doing now, it seems the less we know about what scammers with the assistance of AI are going to be able to do tomorrow. 

This morning when I checked my e-mail, I spotted 2 phishing scams that you might want to watch out for. Both of these phishing scams pretend to be pharmacies offering you Cash rebates. 

The first e-mail I received was from a pharmacy that I haven't done business with in at least four years letting me know that I had a “shopping points” balance of about $456.73 that I was going to lose if I didn't click on a button in the e-mail today. 

And that's your tip off. 

Any time you get an e-mail telling you you're going to lose something if you don't click on a button or link immediately you can be pretty sure that it's a scam. Also, if you look at the e-mail address of the sender, you can usually tell whether or not it's a scam by whether the e-mail address even looks remotely close to what the sender would actually use. 

The second phishing e-mail I received was from another pharmacy that I have never used, ever, letting me know that again I had a $442.56 “Extra-Care” balance that I needed to use today, or I would lose it, and they provided me with a nice big red button I could click on in order to save that loss.  

Don’t do it. 

Again, anytime you get an e-mail from a business, especially a business that you haven't done any business with for several years and they tell you that you have an account balance that you're going to lose if you don't contact them immediately by clicking on a button or link in that e-mail, it's probably a scam. 

Some other things to look for in phishing emails is proper punctuation, Spelling, grammar and sentence structure in the message. If they're using logos, look to see if they're actually accurate logos, and like the previous phishing e-mail, be sure to check the e-mail address of the sender to see if it even matches that of the legitimate company.  

If you decide you want to explore the phishing e-mail further, then contact the business directly and ask them if they've sent you any emails regarding offers or refunds.