How you spot fake/spoof or otherwise damaging emails is very easy if you know what to look for, not to mention saving potential countless dollars and hours fixing the damage these emails cause. 

First of all if you adhere to this rule you will always be okay:

NEVER open up or go to any website through a link provided in an email!  Period!  Even if it is from a respected and known source, as you must consider they may be a victim of hacking or some other malicious attack.

So for example any email from “Pay Pal” or “eBay” saying something has changed or otherwise asks you to review your account – NEVER – use the provided link within the email to verify – even if it is legitimate and in fact from that company.  Following this method is just prudent and will only serve your best interests.  Open up an entirely new browser and log into your respective account to see the information.  There isn’t going to be anything a company expresses in an email that isn’t expressed in your personal account with them. 

If I get an email from PayPal, even if it says I have money, I open a new browser, type in the URL and log into my Pay Pal account from there to see.  I NEVER use the link in the email to check, even if it really is from Pay Pal.  Your email should be just that – mail, and not used as some interface to conduct business with secure sites.  Using the convenience of email in this manner is exactly what fraudulent scammers look for. 

To further check the validity of any link within an email all you must do is place your mouse over the link – BUT DO NOT CLICK IT!  Look in the bottom left corner of your browser and you should see a URL that represents the site the link would take you to.  Look at the information directly behind the “http://” part.  If it is anything other than the core domain name of the company you expect to be dealing with then you know it is a fake/spoof – BAD EMAIL!   Either delete it or forward it to the correct department if you can. 

For eBay and Pay Pal users, emails of this nature are very common.  Hackers like to use other established eBay member accounts as a platfrom to send false messages and threaten negative feedback for items and transactions that never happened.  They send these emails from established eBay members to promote their legitimate appearance.  Again you can always verify these messages through eBay, NEVER respond to an eBay message from your email – following the above rule.  

If you do make contact then the scammer now knows your email is valid, which leaves you open to future attacks.  Also, these hackers would love to have your account to further propagate false messages and potentially damage your eBay reputation.  If in doubt, however, use eBay to contact the member that the message was sent from.  Ask them if they contacted you – when they say no you will know then you don’t have to worry about any negative feedback or that some other eBay member is angry with you – it’s just a scam. 

Also, if you find yourself venturing outside of my rules then if you do click – and you are provided with a login screen enter something other than your real username and password.  If the next screen says thank you for logging in – IT’S A FAKE!  Obviously the scammer just wanted to provide you with the appearance, and it won’t matter what you type in it will always indicate a successful login.  If you place you real information here they will be able to hurt you before you can physically change your login info. 

Follow these guidelines and you can protect yourself from these bothersome and very damaging emails.  I  get them almost everyday!