Burger King email error sparks 224% increase in searches for ‘scam emails’ worldwide – data safety experts share their top tips for spotting ‘phishing’ emails

Research from VPNOverview.com has found that searches for ‘scam emails’ increased by 224% worldwide on the 9^th August, following thousands of account holders incorrectly receiving an email receipt for an order that they hadn’t placed with fast food giant, Burger King.

Confused recipients took to Twitter to share screenshots of the email, which was sent at around 05:00 BST today, that shows a receipt thanking them for placing an order with the fast-food franchise – even though they hadn’t placed one.

Many users tweeted that they were confused by the email they had received, believing that their email had been hacked or there had been a data breach of Burger King accounts and emails.

Research by data security experts VPNOverview.com found that following the worldwide email distribution error by the fast-food chain, searches for ‘scam emails’ increased by 224.25%, surging to the highest point in the week worldwide, according to search data from Google Trends.

While Burger King are yet to officially comment, one user posted an email response they claim to have received from customer support stating: “I am sorry that you received an order you didn’t place… I can assure you that you were not charged for this. This was a technical error on our end. Please disregard this email.”

While it appears that this was genuine error on behalf of their distribution mailing system, it is important for users to be aware of scam emails from cybercriminals posing as genuine companies.

VPNOverview.com have provided their top five tips for spotting scam or ‘phishing’ emails, to help you distinguish between genuine company emails and emails from people trying to defraud you out of your money and personal information.

1. Greeting, language, spelling and grammar mistakes

Scam emails will often be sent to multiple people, meaning they will include a generic ‘Dear Mr/Mrs’ at the top of the email rather than a more personalised email addressing you by your name.

The email may also contain a lot of spelling or grammatical errors, especially if the sender is in another country where English might not be their first language. The inclusion of words that create a sense of urgency, such as, “IMPORTANT”, “URGENT” or “FINAL NOTICE” are also indications you could be dealing with a phishing email.

2. Look at the email sender

If you aren’t sure if the email is legitimate, always check which email address it was sent from. For example, if you’re a customer of the Bank of America, you might get official emails from addresses ending in @bankofamerica.com.

Scammers will try to replicate this email address by using a different email provider such as bankofamerica@gmail.com or add in extra letters such as @bankkofamerica.com. If the email address consists of random numbers and letters this is an easy giveaway that it is a scam email.

3. The email contains suspicious attachments

If the email contains suspicious attachments this could also indicate it is not from a legitimate source. Clicking on a maliciously placed attachment could install spyware such as keyloggers and Trojans onto your device which are designed to obtain personal information such as login details and passwords. If the email contains files ending in .zip or .exe these should be treated with caution and not opened unless you are certain it is from a legitimate source.

4. The email contains suspicious links

Similarly, links can also be included within phishing emails that direct you to a different site to the one you think you are visiting. If you are on a desktop computer, you can easily check the URL of the link by hovering your cursor over the text containing the link without clicking it. It will show you a small white bar at the bottom left corner of your browser with the actual website link.

5. The email contains low resolution images or logos

Often scam emails will include graphics, images, and logos in an attempt to look like a genuine company email. Scammers will often use copies of images from business websites which end up pixelated or slightly misaligned, which can be a giveaway that it is a phishing email.

Further information can be found at  https://www.vpnoverview.com