Have you ever received an email claiming to be from a financial institution asking you to verify your account information?   Don’t do it!  It’s a scam.  Phishers are hoping you’ll take the bait.  Hopefully after this chat, you’ll think twice about it and you’ll be able to identify a phishing email’s warning signs.  I’ll add some more wood to the fire, let’s get started.

What is phishing?  

Typically, phishing is done through a fake email made to appear to come from someone you trust, such as a bank, credit union, credit card company or even a popular website.  The purpose is to trick you into providing sensitive information, such as your username, password or even credit card details.  These phishing emails may also get you to install malicious programs onto your computer, simply by clicking on the infected link or opening the infected attachment.  Once you are infected, the phisher can monitor all of your activity, including all of your keystrokes!

What should you do?

• Never give out personal or sensitive information based on an email request.
• Never trust links or attachments in emails that were not expected.
• Try hovering over the link with your mouse to see if the site is actually pointing to the destination in the link.
• Type the known website addresses rather than using links from the unsolicited email.
• Be suspicious of any phone numbers in these emails.  Use the phone number found on the back of your credit card or on a trusted contact list.

What are some warning signs?

• The email was not expected or has an attachment you were not expecting.
• The time on the email is odd, like the middle of the night.
• There is a very generic greeting message with spelling or grammar mistakes.
• Link goes to unrecognized sites or slightly misspelled sites.  (For example: www.bankofannerica.com)
• Email has a sense of urgency or makes a threat.
• The toll-free number in the email do not match the company’s known toll-free number.

Use these tips whenever you receive an email that gives you an uneasy feeling.  Remember: “Don’t take the bait!”

Coming Soon:  Social Media-Protect yourself!