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.