If you’ve ever heard the term “Phishing” being discussed regarding emails and thought someone was talking about an upcoming fishing trip, you’ll want to read this article because I’m going to discuss what it really is and how you can avoid it.
Essentially, the term Phishing is really sort of a fishing expedition by information thieves. This occurs when you receive an email that appears to be from an company that is well known to you – and perhaps one that you do business with on a regular basis. These emails will generally tell you that there is some sort of a problem with your account, that you need to log into your account to verify some information, or even that there is the potential that someone has broken into your account and that you need to log into your account right away to solve the issue discussed in the email. Of course, you’ll find a link in the email that’s supposed to take you right to your account so you can log in.
Unfortunately, if you click on the link in the email, you’ll be taken to a site that looks identical to the real site of the business the email is purportedly from. You’ll log in and bingo – the thief will have recorded your log in information and will be on the way to cleaning out your account at the real site.
The crooks that pull these Phishing scams have gotten much better than they were in the past. Many of the emails they send out look exactly like emails that the real companies would send out. However, there are some tell tale signs that can tip you off and help you avoid falling victim to these scams.
1. Threats
In many of these emails, there will be a sentence or two threatening to shut your account down if you don’t respond within a specified period of time. Understand that no legitimate business will send out an email threatening you to do anything of the sort.
2. Misspelling
As good as these emails can look, be sure to check them over carefully. In many cases, you’ll find spelling or grammatical errors. No legitimate business is going to send emails out with these type of errors in them.
3. Account Verification
These days, it’s common practice for a company to include the last 4 digits of your account number in emails as sort of a verification the email is from them. Beware if an email from a financial institution doesn’t have personalized data in it as it may be a sign that it’s a Phishing attempt.
4. Contact Information
Take a look at the bottom of the email. Is the contact information correct? In some cases, they will have an email address that looks similar to the real company. Any legitimate email will have an email address from the company’s primary email, not an email with extra works or characters in it.
5. Data Collection
These days, no legitimate company will ask you to send them, change, or verify any of your private data within a web form, nor will the provide you a link to click on to do these things. ALWAYS go directly to the financial institutions site to log in by typing the URL into your browser. NEVER click on a link in an email to access your account.
6. Call customer support
If you think an email you’ve received is legitimate, but you not certain, do the safe thing and call customer support. You can find the number on a bank statement or on the back of your credit / debit card.
