Two words in an email are a big red flag for scams, the FBI warns

They are words of warning.

Phishing emails are getting trickier to spot in this age of sophisticated — and often AI-powered — cyber scams. Fortunately, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has noted some telltale signs that the message in your mailbox is a digital wolf in sheep’s clothing.

In a PSA, they warned against the possibility of scammers masquerading as aid agencies or celebrities asking for donations in an attempt to capitalize on tragic events like the “New Year’s Eve terrorist attack” in New Orleans and the recent fires in Los Angeles.

“In 2024, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received more than 4,500 complaints reporting approximately $96 million in losses to fraudulent charities, crowdfunding accounts, and disaster relief campaigns,” it writes. them.

According to the FBI, a “deception sign” is a specific pressure to “act quickly.” These emails should be closed immediately because, unless they are sent by a close friend or family member, they are likely to be a cyber trojan horse.

Microsoft also warned people to “be suspicious of Teams emails and messages that claim to immediately click, call or open an attachment.

“Often, they will claim that you must act now to claim a reward or avoid a penalty,” they wrote. “Creating a false sense of urgency is a common trick of phishing attacks and scams. They do it so you don’t have to think too much about it or consult a trusted advisor who can warn you.”

The so-called “emergency” described in a scam email shouldn’t even be disaster relief — it could be as innocuous as losing access to one’s Netflix account.

“If a message looks suspicious, it’s probably phishing,” said the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, an arm of the US defense, Forbes reported. “However, if you think it might be real, do not click on any links or call any numbers in the message. Find another way to contact the company or person directly.”

Other common ways to avoid fraud, according to the FBI, include checking the URL, email address and spelling for errors, refraining from opening attachments from people you don’t know, and not clicking on unsolicited texts or emails .

“Remember that companies generally do not contact you to ask for your username or password,” they warn.

Unfortunately, the infusion of artificial intelligence can often make catfishing correspondence indistinguishable from the real deal – like a cyber chameleon.

“Criminals leverage generative artificial intelligence (AI) to commit fraud on a larger scale, which increases the credibility of their schemes,” the FBI warned in an advisory last month.

AI’s ability to fly under the radar makes it ideal for everything from spear phishing to financial scams, such as romance, investment and other trust schemes.

In November, a UK woman who fell in love with a “US army colonel” she met on Tinder later discovered he was a romance scammer after he bilked her of over $20,000 by setting up hyperrealistic AI videos.

A French woman was also conned out of $850,000 by a scammer posing as an AI-generated Brad Pitt.