It’s a common story that you receive an email from your bank stating that incorrect charges have been made on your account and asks for personal details on a secure website says William D King. You follow the link and login on a spoofed webpage to enter your details, only to find that those have been used for financial frauds.
In today’s internet business world, consumers have been constantly warned about phishing attacks on their accounts as criminals are becoming smarter by the day. In some cases, they even use social engineering skills to trick users into giving up sensitive information like account passwords and OTP (One time Password). So, how can you avoid falling prey to such traps?
What Is Phishing?
Phishing is one of the most common types of online scams that use social engineering or human intervention to steal user data. It includes email schemes which pose as an organization you trust like banks, credit card companies, electronic stores and social networks to steal your login details.
Phishing Email Sample: How Can You Recognize A Phishing Attempt?
Here’s how a phishing email may look like:
There are few factors that can help you distinguish between the legitimate email and the fraudulent one says William D King. The sender address is usually invalid and doesn’t belong to the company in question or it may be misspell with one or more O’s in an ‘I’. There might also be mistakes in grammar and punctuation marks. Remember, scammers don’t care about such things when they’re trying to deceive you so always keep a sharp eye on it.
Can Phishing Emails Be Determined Beforehand?
Expert analysts at Google use machine learning (a type of artificial intelligence) and feedback from users to determine phishing emails. Using this technique, they are able to detect more than 99% of the account takeover attempts even without user consent.
How Web Browsers Can Help?
Today’s browsers have become smarter by giving warnings about suspicious web pages. While it is still possible for the scammers to spoof these elements, you can easily take precautions if you regularly update your browser with the latest security features. Gmail users get extra protection in form of a special warning message showing up when they click on links inside their email messages. This feature ensures that only trusting websites are open while browsing so any attempt at phishing gets foil immediately.
Here’s how you can protect yourselves from falling prey to such scams:
Verify that the email is from an official source of your bank or Credit Card Company. Before entering any data on a spoofed webpage. Never click on links in emails from unknown senders Verify that there are no spelling mistakes in the sender address or grammatical errors in the content Make sure that web browser features for detecting phishing attempts are up-to-date Do not automatically trust images uploaded by websites, always check their domain name to determine if they are legitimate or not Remember, criminals are always trying to outsmart you so it’s your responsibility to remain vigilant at all times.
FAQs:
Q. How do I protect my Gmail account from phishing scams?
A. Always look for the browser address bar when clicking on any link in an email message. No matter how trustworthy it appears says William D King. Scammers can spoof images and change the appearance of Gmail pages. But they cannot alter the main URL field which will always validate against it. Make sure that you type only that address into your browser’s address bar. And not click on any links in emails. That appear to be send by Google or other official websites related to your email service provider (hotmail, yahoo etc.). If you are still doubtful about clicking on a particular link. Contact the company through some other channel like or social media before proceeding further.
Q. What’s the best way to avoid becoming a phishing scam victim?
A. Be vigilant and don’t trust any messages. That ask you to enter your password, bank account details or other personal information. Keep in mind that even if an email comes from your bank or credit card Company. It may still be fake so look for mistakes in the content and feel free to contact them. Using other means if you’re still not sure.
Conclusion:
Phishing attacks are becoming more and more sophisticated by the day. It’s therefore important for consumers to be vigilant at all times while browsing the internet. Especially while performing routine tasks like checking bank statements or validating credentials on a secure website.