While it’s convenient more and more to be able to sign or approve various transactions electronically versus having to sign a piece of paper, that quick, handy process is also subject to trickery. A member of our team recently received an email message asking them to click a link and sign something, and they almost responded to it absent-mindedly. Of course, they stopped and double-checked the sender email address, and it was not recognizable or associated with anyone or anything they might expect. They deleted the message immediately!

We’ve highlighted previously how phone and other forms of communication can be used to fool us into responding to things we shouldn’t, sometimes providing information to unauthorized parties. Not surprisingly, you can add email to the list of channels that can possibly mislead us.

Here is more on the prevalent DocuSign phishing scam:

For several years, scammers have been leveraging the growing popularity and convenience of online e-signature and contract platforms for their own illicit gains. Not surprisingly, the list of spoofed companies includes the most widely-used of them all—DocuSign. These fraudulent emails are particularly dangerous since many victims are already accustomed to trusting the platform with personal information – including social security numbers and bank routing numbers. Read more here.

What should you do if you receive a suspicious email message?

As we’ve observed before, it’s a shame we all have to be so suspicious, but this information is very useful for avoiding the hurt, confusion and worse that scammers try to cause.