Don't Take the Bait!
One of
the most common internet scams is something called “phishing”. Phishing is a scam
in which targets are contacted by phone, email, or text (although, it is most
often email) by someone posing to be a legitimate source. Once contact has been
made, and the person follows whatever link that the phisher provides, they attempt
to get you to input sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, passwords,
or banking information. For example, you might get an email from someone who is
posing as your bank saying something like “Suspicious activity detected on your
account”, and then provide a link. The link may lead to a website that looks like
your bank’s website, and then prompt you to enter sensitive information, which
then can be stolen if entered.
So, how can you tell a phishing scam from a legitimate email? There are many indicators to look out for:
- · Watch out for emails that seem to good to be true, i.e. an email saying that you have one a large cash prize or other expensive rewards.
- · Be cautious of emails that try to push a sense of urgency (“do this now, or the offer will expire”). Most institutions will provide ample amounts of time before a task needs to be completed.
- · Always check any hyperlinks that are in the email. If you hover over a link, it will show you the URL that it will take you to, and it is often very close to the legitimate URL (for example, reigonsbank.com instead of regionsbank.com)
- · Don’t download attachments from suspicious emails, or emails that you wouldn’t expect an attachment to be with. This can often have malicious viruses or ransomware attached with them
- · Use common sense! If an email looks suspicious, it probably is!
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