Can You Spot the Problems With This Fake Email?

Over the weekend, I received an email from "Skype".  It told me that my account had been suspended and detailed what I needed to go through in order to reactivate my account.  I knew right away that it was fake because I have never had an account on Skype.  However, if you do have an account, how easily would you be able to identify this as a fake email?  Without reading on, can you spot five problems with this email?  (You can click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Here are five problems you should have caught:

1) Email Address - If this email were really from Skype, it would be coming from blahblah@skype.com.  This email is not coming from skype.com, it is coming from account53654156pod6501_verifcation.com.  Also, check the spelling carefully.  I once received an email that came from statefram.com.  Obviously, they were hoping that I would not realize the transposed letters and think this was actually from State Farm.  If the email is coming from something other than the company's main website or it is extremely long (both apply in this case), be suspicious.

2) Missing Logo - Yes, a small Skype logo appears on the right-hand side, but most companies put their logos all over their emails.  You would expect a full-sized logo that says "Skype" somewhere in a email coming from Skype.  If an email is text only or only contains a small logo, be suspicious.

3) Poor Grammar/Spelling - Except for the misspelled "verifcation" in the email address, this email actually has good spelling.  However, there are multiple grammar issues with this message.  The first paragraph is missing a space after a period, none of the paragraphs end with any punctuation, the colon after Reference Number has a space before it and not after it, and there are a few words that should not have been capitalized.  An automated email like this coming from a large company will have been proofread by multiple copywriters.  Minor grammar errors will sometimes happen, and occasionally a company will make a major mistake, but no company would ever allow an email with this many errors to go out in its name.  If you are not an English teacher and you notice more than one spelling or grammar error, be suspicious.

4) Strange Wording - Skype is not going to be concerned with the activity on your credit card.  The would obviously want to make sure that purchases you made through Skype are legitimate, but they would reference activity on your account, not on your credit card.  If the wording seems strange or overly urgent, be suspicious.

5) Link in Email - Due to all the phishing attacks, very few companies will provide a link in an email for you to confirm your account details.  Almost all of them will ask you to go to their website and log in there.  (This does not apply to opt in emails for lists, like the one you received to confirm your subscription to my mailing list.  You should know the link is legitimate since you requested it.)  If there is a link in the email for you to confirm your personal information, be suspicious.

There are two more items you would not have been able to see from the email picture, but that were apparent to me from seeing the actual email:

1) Single Image - I would not have expected you to notice this based on the picture provided, but the entire email is an image, with all the text and pictures contained as part of the image.  This is a tool used by spammers and scammers.  Since spam filters will not see any text (they cannot read the text in the image, they just see it a giant picture), it is much more likely to make it to your actual inbox.  Not only does this mean that it will more people will read it, but it also makes it seem more credible.

2) The Actual Link - When I hover over the link to "confirm my information", it does not take me to skype.com.  It actually takes me to http://j.gs/7174136/gqsw82.  A large company is unlikely to use shortened web addresses for something like this.

The simple way to never be scammed by emails like this is to never click on links in emails.  As I mentioned earlier, most companies will tell you to go to their website and log in instead of sending a link.  Even if Skype did actually send links in their emails, they would not mind at all if you went to skype.com and entered your log in information there.  If they were legitimately concerned about activity on your account, they would provide instructions on how to reactivate your account once you log in.

Did I miss something on the email that you noticed?  If you saw another sign that this email is fake, please let me know at hcscomputersblog@gmail.com or by commenting on this post (if viewing it on the website.)