Email Phishing Red Flags to Watch Out For

Email phishing is a very common scam where the victim is duped into revealing confidential information. Information such as your login information, bank information, social security number, and more. Phishing emails tend to impersonate legitimate corporations, or someone you know, in order to trick you into giving them money or information.

What sorts of emails are we talking about here?

Things like:

• Urgent requests to take IMMEDIATE action
• Unexpected emails, phone calls, or text messages
• Offers that sound too good to be true
• Requests to verify your username or password
• Emails containing a lot of spelling issues or poor grammar

Social security, or any other government agency for that matter, will never email you asking for your social security number. They will never call and demand immediate payment. They will never ask you for your personal information over the phone. They will never threaten you. If you happen to get one of these emails or calls – delete it or hang up immediately.

Ever get a call saying someone you know has been taken into custody and you need to wire money IMMEDIATELY so they can post bail? That’s a very popular scam. It is never real.

Have you ever received an email with a really weird but almost legitimate attachment? Maybe it even came from an email address that seems familiar. Scammers are counting on your curiosity and trust – they want you to open that file. Don’t ever open that attachment. Delete that email immediately.

Maybe you keep getting weird emails that have an “unsubscribe” button at the end of them and you want them to stop emailing and you consider clicking that “unsubscribe.” Don’t. It is better if you hit the SPAM button in whatever email program you are using and leave it be. A lot of those “unsubscribes” are fake too – and you just clicked that scammer’s bait.

Another common scam is the one where you get an email that states you have been hacked some time ago, they give you an old password of yours, and threaten that they will reveal whatever they saw you doing if you don’t give them money. Delete and ignore.

Also, tech support – any tech support – will never preemptively contact you. Microsoft does not monitor whether or not your computer has been infected. NEVER GIVE THESE PEOPLE ACCESS TO YOUR COMPUTER.

What should you do?

• NEVER CLICK ANY LINKS!
• NEVER OPEN ATTACHMENTS
• Never act with emotion
• Verify all requests for information
• Call, email, or text the person directly if you want to verify it was them trying to reach you
• Delete all emails that seem suspicious
• Hang up on scam callers
• All offers that feel too good to be true ALWAYS ARE
• Never ever share your username or password with anyone
• Read your emails very carefully and be very suspicious of minor errors

Unfortunately scams are never going to go away. You need to be very careful and stay diligent in order to protect yourself from becoming a victim. Most intrusions or hacks come down to unintentional actions on the part of the victim.

What else should you do?

• Make your passwords as secure as possible
• Never use a password more than once
• Enable 2-factor authentication on all accounts that offer that feature
• Make sure your computer’s antivirus is up-to-date

Questions? Contact TeCHS!