I don’t know about you, but I usually get emails from big companies that carry disturbing messages. Dear Sir/Costumer/Mr. Diamantis you have made a 50 euro purchase we want you to verify, your subscription has been canceled, we have detected unusual behavior and the list goes on.
Obviously, these are fake emails that have the goal to make you click on a link and enter personal data and then get into all kinds of trouble. You might be spammed, your credit card might be used by another person etc. These are called phishing attacks.
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And despite the sophisticated firewalls from internet providers and email companies, scammers often sneak through these messages. And a lot of people get scammed.
I remember quite recently my sister calling me for help and we were forced to change most of the passwords on her computer.
But I think it is easy to spot those malicious emails and avoid all the trouble and frustration that comes with them.
Let’s see a couple of examples.
First a legit mail from PayPal. Whenever I use it, I get the same message, so it is not a bad idea to keep some samples from companies that you use their services.
I notice the sender address and the logo that looks ok ( you will understand why I mention that ) and the message doesn’t tell to click on anything. We’ll use it as a reference.
Now, let’s see a phishing mail from “PayPal”. First the title. It says “Service PayPal” . Not the usual title, but could be legit. Then we read the first line and we have the first red flag. It says “Re”, which means reply. Scammers use this trick to bypass firewalls and to fool us into thinking that there is some kind of conversation with “PayPal”. I don’t have any open tickets/requests so I start to become skeptical.
Anyway, I open it. First thing I look is the address. It is obvious that this is not an email address from PayPal. At this point, I am sure it is a scam, but there is more convincing evidence. Notice the logo. It is distorted. These guys are amateurs. Then there is some disturbing message, which I totally don’t pay any attention and then there is a bid button that calls you to click and then it goes you to a site that looks like “PayPal” where you enter your password and then you say goodbye to it and your funds.
Just delete the message and go on with your life. If for any reason you are not sure if anything happened to your account, close the mail, open a separate tab in your browser and check if everything is ok. Don’t click on links from emails. DON’T !!!
Here’s another example. I got this mail from “Netflix” telling me they have suspended my account. Luckily, I don’t have a Netflix account, so I don’t worry. But, what if I had... I open the mail. I see the address. Could be legit. I have a warning from the system, so I start to doubt. I read the message and see the link that it is well integrated into the mail. This is a good try and someone could be fooled. At this point, if I indeed had a Netflix account, I would close the mail and on a separate tab, I would check my account.
So, if you get emails with worrisome messages about your accounts, don’t rush to click on any links provided. Read the title, see the sender address, read carefully what do they actually say and delete it. If you are still unsure if it is legit or not, on a separate tab ( third time I write it ) check on your account and see nothing happened.
Hope my little guide helped. You can share it with friends to prevent them from being scammed.
And until we are all safe on the web…
Be Healthy, Smile and Steem.