5 Signs An Email Is A Scam

Email scam is a real threat looming over your inbox. According to Statista, 63% of adults in the U.S. receive scam emails on an "at least weekly" basis. Unlike unsolicited marketing spam, which is usually relatively harmless, scam messages can contain malicious attempts to swindle the target out of their money or identity. If you fail to recognize the signs that an email is a scam, it may take considerable effort to recover your data from cybercriminals.

The most common type of email scam is phishing, where the malicious sender uses manipulative language or other forms of clever deception to get sensitive information from the recipient. Some phishing emails even use spoofed addresses, which seem identical or eerily similar to that of a reputable sender such as a coworker or a well-known company. In the worst cases, email scams might attempt to install dangerous malware on your device.

There are several tactics recommended by Consumer Reports to protect against digital fraud. Of course, the best way is to recognize that an email is a scam before fraudsters get your information in the first place. Here are five things to look for so you can do exactly that.

Professional emails use proper spelling, grammar, and style formatting. They are concise and relevant to their recipient. Most importantly, they are open and honest about any links or attachments included with the email. While it's true that people break email etiquette rules all the time, it can be a telltale sign of a scam attempt.

You should always think twice about interacting with an email that exhibits poor etiquette. This is especially true if the email is being pointed or aggressive about urging you toward a certain action. Not only is it a rude tone to take over email, it's also highly suspicious.

Improper spelling and grammar are equally suspicious, especially in an email that claims to come from a reputable company. Large organizations employ writers, editors, and purpose-crafted tools to ensure high-quality copy for all communications. Poorly-written emails are often indicative of sloppy phishing and awkward translations from foreign scammers who think they can get away with fraud by committing it overseas.

Some phishing emails contain pressing calls to action in the subject line, such as "URGENT ACTION REQUIRED" or "RESPOND IMMEDIATELY." Emails using such urgent language can stir frantic behavior if you use your account to handle sensitive tasks. You may even be the target of a business email compromise scheme, where a malicious party becomes aware that your email address is being used to conduct professional or financial business.

However, there are many cases when a legitimate email might genuinely require such urgency. How can you tell the difference? The key is to pause and consider the facts carefully, even if the email is rushing you to do something quickly. If the email claims that something is amiss with your bank account, take the time to consult your own records, or contact your bank via phone. If it seems like a company supervisor is urgently requesting sensitive information, refer to the company's policy to see if such requests are even allowed. 

Suspicious email addresses or headers are the signature signs of a spoofing scam. An email might claim to come from a reputable source, and it might have a seemingly legitimate username containing words like "official" or "headquarters," but pay close attention to the domain. A legitimate email will almost always use the company's own website as the domain. If the website after the "@" in the email address points to Gmail or some generic-sounding website, proceed with caution. You should also watch out for subtle misspellings, like "rnicrosoft" to imitate "microsoft," for example.

Spoofing attempts are difficult to notice when the sender makes clever use of actual website elements from the company they are trying to impersonate. If the email contains actual logos, graphics, and formatting styles that the real company uses, your eye might be drawn to those elements before you even notice that the email domain is faulty. Always look closely at the entire email address before interacting with a possible scam email.

The ultimate goal of a phishing email is to lure you to a place where the scammer can extract your info or force hostile malware onto your device. That's where links and QR codes come in. In 2025, the FBI issued a serious warning about scanning QR codes on packages — QR codes in emails can be just as dangerous. If you are not 100% certain that an email has come from a trustworthy source, do not click any links or scan any QR codes. If you do click a link and it takes you to a site asking for sensitive information, this is a surefire sign that a scammer is trying to steal your information or even your identity.

Reputable organizations do not request sensitive information such as Social Security numbers or login credentials, especially not over insecure channels. On a laptop, hover over a link to get an idea of the URL it will take you to. On a smartphone, long press it to access a properties page where you can safely see where the link will take you. As an even more general rule of thumb, simply do not interact with emails that make excessive or suspicious use of links or QR codes.

The 2026 Phishing Trends Report published by Hoxhunt shows that as many as 40% of phishing emails now show signs of AI assistance in either the email itself or on the intended landing page. With artificial intelligence getting more and more sophisticated, it comes as no surprise that scammers will use AI to trick you in your inbox and everywhere else. 

Another alarming development is the rise of AI-assisted spear phishing, which is a phishing scam that uses very specific knowledge about the target to increase the likelihood of fooling them. Large language models (LLMs) are very good at reading massive amounts of text and imitating its style and word choice. By taking advantage of this, scammers can use AI tools to quickly generate countless emails that look and sound exactly like something a real company would send to its customers.

If AI-generated scam emails are such faithful imitations, what signs should you look for that the email is, in fact, a scam? In many cases, LLMs generate emails that are actually too flawless. Unlike a friendly human writing voice, language that is too clean, too mechanical, and too perfect is a sign of obvious AI use.