Common Words in Email Scams: Money, Income, Investment, More

Nearly half of respondents to a new global survey say they’ve fallen victim to a cyberattack or scam, according to a report commissioned by computer software company Yubico, per Talker.

Phishing, where a cybercriminal sends a deceptive message to trick someone into divulging sensitive information, such as bank account details or allowing access to their technology, is on the rise — up over 60% from 2021 to 2022, CNBC reported.

Chances are, you’ve seen a phishing email in your inbox. But recognizing when it was sent by a bad actor can stop you from being their next victim.

Related: AI Cloning Hoax Can Copy Your Voice in 3 Seconds—and It’s Emptying Bank Accounts. Here’s How to Protect Yourself.

A recent study from email validation and deliverability platform ZeroBounce analyzed email datasets for spam detection to determine the most dangerous and recurring words in scam emails.

The research calculated weighted scores based on the appearance frequency of the word, click-through rate (CTR) and infection/damage rate.

Perhaps not surprisingly, “money” comes in first among the most dangerous words, with an 83.56% infection/damage rate and the second-highest appearance and CTR.

Related: Why AI is Your New Best Friend… and Worst Enemy in the Battle Against Phishing Scams

“Income” has the highest CTR at 4.68% despite a moderate appearance frequency (267).

“Investment,” “credit,” “billion” and “free” rounded out the top five most dangerous words, with the latter surfacing most frequently (2,266 times) and receiving the lowest CTR (.56%).

Check out ZeroBounce’s full list of findings below: