Phishing refers to sending fraudulent emails posing as a bank, a famous company like Amazon – encouraging people to share their personal information like bank accounts, SSN, passwords and credit card numbers. It is not a general practice for reputable companies to ask for your personal information via email. Here is a list of common things to look for in phishing emails,
- Be suspicious of any emails that try to gain access to your personal information like address, DOB, SSN. Check the actual email that the message has been sent from.
- If it’s too good to be true, it probably is! This old saying is especially true in case of phishing emails. Winning a lottery, a free gift card – especially when you did not enter for it should all give you red warning signs. Use common sense when you receive such emails.
- Most of the spam emails have grammatical and spelling errors. Be wary of such emails.
- Use free add-ons on your browser to help protect you from potentially harmful websites. These ad-ons will warn you if you are going to visit a malicious website.
Use the above practices to be safe on the web. Happy surfing!