Spot fake emails

These are the steps I use to check for a fake email.

1. Are you expecting the email?
   1. If not then possible fake
2. If the email address to the correct email account you use with this service
   1. If not then fake 90%
   2. If no address, then do they always do this. You should contact them and ask they get a proper email marketing system and correctly address emails.
3. Is the sender’s email address from where you expect. Both senders name AND the actual email address
   1. if not then fake 100% –
      watch out for the people that have their email sent on behalf of when part of a known email provider. not fake.
4. If there is an image, you should have your settings on not to show
   1. Some spammers will recognize when you download to see the image and take that as proof you are a valid email which means more spam in the future!
   2. Can you see the address where the image is stored? Is it a domain you would expect for this email. Either the sender’s domain or that of their email service?
      1. If not, especially if a random domain fake 95%
5. Is there a link to login to their service. Check the destination – do not click on it.
   1. Is it the link to service you expect
      1. If not, FAKE 100%

So,  how does the featured email here score?

1. Not expecting email – fake
2. email address field is ‘a’ – fake
3. senders email address is ‘accountprotection@travel-blog.uk’ not PayPal  – fake
4. the image on ‘https://i.imgur.com/pIbW2rT.png’ maybe for some emails, not PayPal – fake
5. link to ‘http://sendy.pavalal.co.uk/l/oaSABi5ycb8S9D2bRagJ5A/Luce2k763vMBpSMt892u5Nhi763Q/Luce2k763vMBpSMt892u5Nhi763Q’  Not PayPal – fake