How to Detect Phishing Scams
Personal information is very important for many computer users, whether it’s a username and a password or bank account details. The problem is that many people make it their business to steal personal information from computer users for unlawful purposes. You don’t want to be just another one of the millions of victims of cybercrime, so you should take the time to watch out for telltale signs of phishing.
What is Phishing?
Phishing is a type of computer-related fraud where a user attempts to acquire personal and critical information from another user. Phishing usually occurs when a user replies to an e-mail or accesses a site that looks and feels very similar to a legitimate website. The e-mail or site form then contains fields and forms where you are prompted to fill out information like:
A username and a password to an account you may or may not have on the Internet
E-mail address
Mother’s maiden name
Address
Credit card numbers and other bank details
Phishing is often used to gain access to bank accounts, online social networks, game characters, and even link your name and other activities for illegal activities.
Things to Look Out For in Phishing E-Mail
If you get a suspicious email and doubt that it’s safe, always check out these tell-tale signs:
Digital signature. Legitimate e-mails from companies are always digitally signed. Remember that logos and letterheads are not enough to distinguish an authentic e-mail message from a fake one.
Personal information. Unless you’re absolutely sure you solicited the e-mail message yourself, no e-mail sender will ever ask for your bank details, your mother’s maiden name, or other personal information.
Tone and grammar. The way an e-mail is written can say a lot about whether or not the e-mail comes from a legitimate company or a fake one. If the e-mail does not have perfect grammar or sounds like a scam operation wrote it, chances are you’re walking into their trap.
Links. Avoid divulging personal information to e-mail messages with hyperlinks. Do not click these hyperlinks at all; chances are they are fake sites that seek to acquire your personal information.
Things to Look Out For in Phishing Websites
Here are some tell-tale signs of phishing websites:
Invalid security certificate. If the security certificate is expired or in conflict with another site, the website you’re accessing probably exists for phishing purposes.
No captcha or other security features. Captcha, secret questions, and other code-based security features are used by legitimate sites to prevent spammers and other hackers from acquiring personal information. If the website you’re browsing does not have these features, it’s probably used for phishing.
Suspicious address. The “https://” protocol is used to denote a secure site, and is almost always used by all banks and online stores. Always check if the site has “https://” for security purposes if you’re required to log in. It’s best to type the address of a site on the address bar instead of clicking on hyperlinks.
Phishing is a serious problem among many computer users. With these tips to help you browse safely, divulging your personal information for illegal purposes will be the least of your problems when you use the Internet.