Protect Yourself from Phishing Scams

Protect Yourself from Phishing Scams

Phishing scams are a popular way for people to get access to your personal information. They can be easy to spot, but they're also highly effective. In fact, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reports that phishing is responsible for more than half of all reported online fraud schemes in the US—and the number is growing each year.

In this blog, we'll take a closer look at how phishing works and how you can protect yourself from being fooled by scammers.

What is a phishing scam?

Phishing is a type of scam that tries to get you to give up personal information. Phishing scams are designed to look like official communications and websites, such as emails from banks and online retailers. Phishing scams can also come via text and phone.

But don’t worry; we are here to help you spot the signs of a phishing scam before they can take advantage of you!

What does a phishing email look like?

Phishing emails are designed to look like they are coming from a legitimate company, but they're not. These emails often have the following characteristics:

• The email contains a link to a website that looks like it's real.
• There is an urgent request or sense of urgency in the subject line or content of the message. This can be anything from "You're in danger" to "This account will be shut down."
• The email has an attachment, which may contain malicious code or files that allow hackers access to your computer when you open them.
• The email is poorly written. The grammar and spelling are incorrect, or the message doesn't make sense. There is no greeting or salutation, and the email ends abruptly.

How to protect yourself from a phishing scam.

If you get an email from a company you do business with, the first thing to do is to check whether it's legitimate. If it isn't, contact the company or organization directly and ask if they sent you that email.

If you receive a suspicious email, never click on links inside them because they could lead to malicious sites that can infect your computer with viruses or spyware. Also make sure that any site URLs displayed in emails are correct by typing them into an internet browser yourself before visiting those sites.

Use anti-virus software on all of your devices (laptop, phone and tablet) as well as any other computers at home that access the same network as yours - this will help protect against malware attacks like phishing scams coming through other devices connected to your network via Wi-Fi/Ethernet cable etcetera!

Scammers are always coming up with new tactics.

Scammers are always coming up with new and inventive ways to get your personal information. They can be very convincing, too. It’s important to know that scammers know how to get your personal information, so being cautious when receiving outside communication is important to help protect yourself from falling victim to these scams.

Here are some common scams to watch out for:

• Your personal information is being used by someone else. They may claim that they need your credit card number to stop charges made in your name. This is a scam, since you should never give anyone your credit card number over the phone unless you initiated the call.
• You’re asked to pay for a prize that you didn’t sign up for. This is another common scam that occurs during the holidays. Scammers will call and tell you that you won a prize, but first they need some money from you in order to send it out to you.
• You’re told that you need to pay a fee to get your refund. This is another common scam, where you may be asked by someone claiming to be with the IRS or a collections agency for money in order to get your refund.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that you need to be on the lookout for phishing scams. While these communications can be quite clever and difficult to identify, there are some things you can do to protect yourself from them. The first step is knowing what a phishing scam looks like so that when it comes across your inbox or text messages, you'll be more prepared with those messages before sharing any sensitive information with them. Second of all, utilize two-factor authentication whenever possible because it will make it harder for hackers to access your accounts.