Practice Safe Searching
Phishing scams are all too common. Odds are, at one time or another, you’ve been contacted by someone who is misleading you with a false identity. To most of us, it’s apparent that these situations are scams.
However, there are many more that might be a little trickier to detect before it’s too late.
What is Phishing?
Phishing is a crime committed via the internet where the victim is contacted by phone, email or text message by someone, posing as someone else, in an attempt to gain some type of sensitive personal information (passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers etc…).
Many of these scams are getting harder and harder to detect.
Stay Safe
Here are some things to look out for to avoid becoming a victim of a phishing attack:
Often the sending domain or web domain of an attacker will be similar to a well-known company, but not correct. For example, they may be trying to spoof wellsfargo.com and could use vvellsfargo.com. At a quick glance, it’s easy to mistake two v’s for a single w.
Does the email appear to come from someone within your company but feels like a strange request? If something seems off, it probably is and you may be able to save yourself a massive headache by quickly double checking that the request was legitimate.
Always be careful opening attachments, especially if it’s from someone you don’t know.
Is the sender requesting you click on a link? Hover over the link. If the URL that is displayed in the bottom left of your browser is different from the URL you are hovering over, you may want to take a better look at where it’s taking you.
All in all, when you receive an email, a phone call or text that seems strange or is requesting sensitive information, take a few extra seconds to make sure everything is legitimate. A quick review before acting could potentially save you money, dozens of phone calls, and hours of your time.
Additional Tips
For more information on what to look for and how to avoid being phished, head on over to:
https://www.phishing.org/what-is-phishing
(Did you hover over that link before you clicked on it?)