ThinkCritical.eu · Manipulation atlas
Scams and data theftGeneric greeting
“Dear customer” instead of your name: a bank or company you deal with usually knows your name – a mass message comes from someone who doesn't know you.
Mass scam messages go to thousands of people at once, so the sender doesn’t know your name. But beware the opposite too: being addressed by name proves nothing – a scammer may know it from leaked data.
Email: “Dear customer, we have detected a suspicious login to your online banking. To restore access, click the Verify account button.”
How to spot it
- “Dear customer”, “Dear user” or just “Hello” from a company you have an account with.
- Nothing in the message is specific to you – no name, no contract number.
- The generic greeting comes with a request to click or enter your details.
How to check and what to do
- Read messages from your bank or a company in its app or account, which you log into yourself.
- Don’t click links or buttons in the email.
- If in doubt, call the number on the back of your card or on your contract and ask whether they wrote to you.
Tip: A generic greeting is just one signal. What counts is what the message wants from you.
Full explanation and exercises:
thinkcritical.eu/en/manipulation-atlas/generic-greeting