Cybercriminals have improved their phishing game since the early 2000s. Although it is challenging to identify phishing emails these days, you can use the following five techniques to avoid becoming a victim.
Most people become victims of an email phishing scam because they don’t focus on the display name of the email address. Most often, the display name has a similar spelling to a valid email address.
It is crucial to look more closely to see a typo in the domain or email address. Compare it with the original email address to ensure the email you have received is not a scam. For instance, if department@apple.com is genuine, the other one may look like departmentt@apple.com or department@appple.com.
Companies and brands are pretty serious about their email security and make strong efforts to provide their customers with exceptional experiences. Remember, legit emails typically don’t have many spelling and grammar mistakes.
If the email contains links, hover your mouse over them in the email body. If the link address is a bit strange or looks unusual, don’t click on it. Open a new window and type the address directly instead of clinking on the link from the email. That way, you can test the link and determine whether it is safe or a scam.
Reputable companies such as banks never ask for personal information or credentials via email. If the email asks you to provide your credit card or social security numbers, it is an email phishing scam.
In these instances, you must not give up your personal information. If there is a lack of detail about the company, it means the email is fake or should be investigated more. You should call the company and ask for a representative to assist you.
Email scammers spoof brands in the display name. However, they also spoof businesses in the header from email addresses. Recent research shows that about 30% of 760,000+ email threats studied imitated companies in the header.
Fraudsters take advantage of the core email protocols that lack authentication. Spam emails or phishing attacks can spoof the header to mislead you about the sender. The primary objective is to get you open and respond to the message.
Harmful attachments, such as a PDFs, Microsoft Word, Photo, Video, etc., may contain malware. It is a popular email phishing scam or technique used by fraudsters. The purpose is to damage your computer through malware or malicious files and spy on you or steal your data, passwords or other confidential information.
One way to recognize an email phishing scam is to receive attachments from known users. If you don’t recognize the sender and/or it’s company domain, you should not open the attached files to protect your computer from malware and viruses.