3 Phishing Scams You Should Know

Scams are abound, here are a few that we’ve noticed on a daily basis

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Due to the COVID-19 crisis, most of us are forced to adopt an online approach for matters pertaining to business. Naturally, unscrupulous individuals see this as an opportunity to launch phishing attacks on unsuspecting individuals in order to steal personal information.

It happens to the best of us, due to several factors that include fatigue from the substantial volume of emails that we receive each day. Apart from this, many of phishing emails are carefully worded to appeal to us on some level. Here are some of the most common scams we’ve encountered via email:

#1 – Your Account Has Been Reset
This is a common scam used to gain access to an individual’s personal information. Here, the sender states that your account has been reset or that a billing issue has come up. And to respond, you need to click on the link and follow the instructions. Failure to do so will result in certain ‘repercussions’ that may include account suspension.

Now, to authenticate the legitimacy of such emails, one only has to view the sender’s true email address. For scams, the sender usually uses a dubious address that ends with @accounts-team.com/@accounts-receivables.ru or something similar. If Apple or Google were to contact you via email, rest assured that they will do so by using their actual domain names like @apple.com or @google.com/@gmail.com.

#2 – A Message From A Friend
Tech savvy crooks are able to obtain your contacts/ friends lists fairly easily. Like the first method, the email address is somewhat convincing, and the same can be said of the sender’s name (its usually a friend’s full name). Here, you are usually required to click on a link to respond to something that said ‘acquaintance’ wants to share with you.

Before responding, confirm that the email address does belong to said friend, if not, flag said email as spam. Hopefully, the client server will filter it as such the next time you receive it.

# 3 – Credit Card/Bank Notification
Nothing makes a person more anxious than finding out that their banking information has been compromised. Such emails are extremely convincing, because they contain just enough personal information to look legitimate, causing one to lower their guard.

One thing to remember when it comes to finance related matters is, never respond to banking emails without first phoning your bank. No matter how authentic an email might look, be sure to check the full email address and run it by your respective bank for confirmation.

A hard and fast rule when it comes to resisting phishing emails, is to never divulge personal information over an email or a call. Notice that when your bank calls you, it never asks for your bank account, username or password. Such information is only requested when you show up at your bank in person.