Recognizing email received in hotmail is genuine or spam/ phishing?

I am using hotmail since last three months. I have recently got a mail form the Apple saying that I have won an ipad. I am not sure that the mail I have received is genuine or spam or fake. How can I recognize the mail which I have received is from the sender only and not from someone else?

This all mails are actually sent by the hackers and spammers. Who are willing to have your password, credit card number and other personal information. They do this to fraud people. They make fake id’s in the name of big companies, send you mails that contain illegal details. In their most of mail you can notice one thing that they always say to provide your personal information, banking information and even say that you should not tell one regarding this mail. They have many tricks for fraud such as lucky prize won by you, some amount won by you, You have to pay this amount to this company.

There are many ways that the hackers and the spammers use to exploit your account and information. You will be given a warning in the mail. Asking for personal information. Your User id and password as well as they even tell you to provide your credit card number. They warn that deleting or ignoring this mail will delete your mail account. But you should not get afraid of these warnings and instead check for the mail is genuine or fake. Here are some of the points that you should keep in mind and to check whether the mail is fake or not.

• The email is generally unprofessional or unpolished in look.
• Notice the brands logo on the mail.
• Random words are capitalized in the email such as Email, Email User Accounts Owner, User, Accounts and so on.
• The grammar used in mail is very week
• There is an urgency of response time. Any official mail doesn’t pressurize or tell you take quick decisions.
• Signature is incomplete, stating awkwardly.

For e.g. The Windows Live Hotmail, not Windows Live Hotmail or The Windows Live Hotmail Team.

Here’s an example of the fake mail. This mail was received by my friend stating that he has won 50,00,000 Rs. In mail it was written that you have won 50,00,000 Rs. After then they wrote the story that how he won such prize. They mentioned the name of the bank as First Bank of Nagaland. They were also telling that you should not show or tell anyone about this mail and in the end they said that to verify we require your personal information, Banking information and your phone number.
How did we recognize this mail as fake.

• First Bank of Nagaland sounds pretty unusual.
• Email address was @hotmail.com. no bank uses hotmail or gmail.
• Odd capitalizations throughout the email.
• How did they find my email address
• Why are they giving people Rs 50,00,000
• Why are they telling that not to tell anyone regarding this mail.

You may get a mail from your friend saying that he is in trouble and needs some money. Anyone would help his friend if he is in trouble. But if you notice that the friend has sent you an email he didn’t tried to contact you. If he was going somewhere then he didn’t inform you. And why is your friend giving you his account number and saying to transfer the amount in that account. You should not be in a hurry when you receive such kind of mails. If you receive such kind of mails then check whether the mail is sent by your friend. Has he tried to contact you on the phone. Check for the things which are unusual.

We get mails saying that provide the information and you might be the lucky winner for today. They provide a list of questions and tell you to fill up. But before filling it up take some time and check that what information they require. Don’t click on any links which are provided. Do not make any calls to their customer service. Don’t verify your mail id with the link provided. By clicking on the link they may have your password. Don’t enter your is and password to the linked page. It stores your id and password and possible that they may change your password or send mail to anyone from your account.