Email Unsubscribe Scam Can Easily Fool Any User, so Scammers are increasingly relying on a tried and true bit of social engineering to fool unsuspecting users into unwittingly signing up to receive a flood of additional spam emails. They accomplish this by blasting out an email asking recipients if they wish to unsubscribe.
The emails don’t specify what the recipient is unsubscribing from or why unsubscribing is necessary. But, of course, the primary purpose here is to verify that the email address is valid and that the recipient is susceptible to phishing scams.
Most of the emails in the Email Unsubscribe Scam contain two brightly colored icons, one green that says, “Keep me subscribed!” and one red that says “Unsubscribe.”
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter which you click on in the unsubscribe email scam. If you opt to subscribe, you’ll receive another email “Verification” email asking you for additional personal information. Likewise, if you click the link to unsubscribe, you’ll receive a verification email asking why you’re leaving and, of course, for additional personal information.
Either way, you’re playing into the hands of the scammers and identifying yourself as a susceptible person.
As ever, education is the best defense against email unsubscribe scams. If you get a phishing email like the one described above, your best bet is to mark it as spam and delete it. All reputable companies will identify themselves and what, specifically, you are unsubscribing from.
If you do fall victim to this scam, you can expect to receive a wide assortment of phishing emails, which will invariably increase your risk of scamming.
After all, the scammers only need to succeed once to make your life a living nightmare for months and possibly years of phishing emails. After that, you have to stay vigilant twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to protect yourself.
