Phishing is a type of online scam where criminals send an email that appears to be from a legitimate company and ask you to provide sensitive information. This is usually done by including a link that will appear to take you to the company’s website to fill in your information – but the website is a clever fake and the information you provide goes straight to the crooks behind the scam.
The term ’phishing’ is a spin on the word fishing, because criminals are dangling a fake ’lure’ (the email that looks legitimate, as well as the website that looks legitimate) hoping users will ’bite’ by providing the information the criminals have requested – such as credit card numbers, account numbers, passwords, usernames, and more.
Here are some clues to identify a phishing attempt:
- Legit companies don’t request your sensitive information via email
- Legit companies usually call you by your name
- Legit companies have domain emails
- Legit companies know how to spell
- Legit companies don’t force you to their website
- Legit companies don’t send unsolicited attachments
- Legit company links match legitimate URLs
Here are a few things you can do to protect yourself from phishing attacks:
- Ensure you have a secure Spam filter in place
- Scrutinise unsolicited communication.
- Take your time.
- Contact the company directly.
- Visit websites directly.
- Ask before opening attachments.
- Check for secure websites.
Contact us today to setup our secure spam filtering service.
