{"id":143303,"date":"2024-12-18T00:35:50","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T05:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/?p=143303"},"modified":"2024-12-21T17:41:53","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T22:41:53","slug":"how-to-easily-identify-phishing-email","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/how-to-easily-identify-phishing-email\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Easily Identify Phishing Email"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"daves-528214627\" class=\"daves-single-post-before-content\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div><p>&#8220;Phishing&#8221; refers to an attempt by criminals to trick people into revealing sensitive personal information, especially banking and financial details. These attempts are delivered mainly either via email or text message. In this article, I&#8217;ll be explaining phishing email.<\/p>\n<p>In the early days, phishing attempts were quite crude. However, over time they have become more and more sophisticated, even to the point of replicating official company logos and emulating web pages. A phishing email will invariably try to induce people into clicking an embedded malicious link or opening a malicious attachment, per medium of some sort of scare tactic.<\/p>\n<p>That said, there are still several traits that make phishing email quite easy to identify once you know what to look for.<\/p>\n<h2>Common Phishing Traits<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Emails-Journey.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-143311\" src=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Emails-Journey.png\" alt=\"email's-journey\" width=\"600\" height=\"135\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Emails-Journey.png 600w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Emails-Journey-350x79.png 350w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Emails-Journey-150x34.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>First of all, the number one rule is to always be highly suspicious of any <em>unsolicited<\/em> email and treat same with the utmost caution. Never, under any circumstances, reply to unsolicited email. Phone the company\/organization to verify the source and content.<\/p><div id=\"daves-1667173783\" class=\"daves-single-post-in-content\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>1) Generic Form of Address<\/strong>: In almost all cases, phishing email will use a generic form of address, such as &#8220;Dear Customer&#8221;, or none at all. If an email message does not refer to you by name it is most likely a phishing email.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2) Scare Tactics<\/strong>: Phishing email will usually create a sense of urgency to scare you into complying. A typical example might be&#8230; &#8220;<em>Due to suspicious activity your account has been temporarily blocked. To unblock your <a title=\"Beware \u201cIs it you in the video\u201d Messenger Scam\" href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/beware-is-it-you-in-the-video-messenger-scam\/\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"73\">account please click the link below and verify<\/a> your details<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3) Poor English<\/strong>: Poor grammar and\/or incorrect spelling used to be a surefire way to identify phishing attempts. However, as the criminals have learned and their methods have become more sophisticated, this trait is no longer as common. That said, if an email message does contain instances of poor grammar and\/or incorrect spelling, it is almost certainly a phishing email.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4) Sender&#8217;s Email Address<\/strong>: Criminals do their best to make the sender&#8217;s email address appear to be as legitimate as possible by incorporating the name of the company\/organization supposedly responsible for the email message somewhere in the sender&#8217;s email address.<\/p><div id=\"daves-1034937747\" class=\"daves-single-post-in-content-2\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Email domains, (the bit that follows the @ symbol), are a dead giveaway. For example, anything that comes from a public email domain, such as &#8220;@gmail.com&#8221;, regardless of what precedes it, is almost certainly a phishing attempt.<\/p>\n<p>That said, criminals can and do buy domain names and, although every domain name must be unique, there are plenty of ways to create addresses that are very similar to the the one that\u2019s being spoofed. For example, &#8220;<em>accountsupport@microsrftonline.com<\/em>&#8220;. At a casual glance, this sort of email address spoofing is difficult to spot, but closer examination will reveal the anomalies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5) Embedded Links<\/strong>: Unfortunately, many legitimate and scam email messages hide the destination address within a button, so it\u2019s not immediately apparent where the link leads. So, it&#8217;s important to check where links lead before clicking them. Fortunately, this is quite simple:<\/p>\n<p>Hover your mouse cursor over the link and the destination address will appear across the bottom of the window.<\/p><div id=\"daves-3546664804\" class=\"daves-single-post-in-content-3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Of course, if you&#8217;ve spotted any of the traits from 1 through 5, you shouldn&#8217;t even be considering clicking any embedded links or opening any attachments anyway.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BOTTOM LINE<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>As you can see from the list of traits above, once you know what to look out for, avoiding phishing scams isn&#8217;t too difficult. Awareness and caution are key.<\/p>\n<p>Stay safe out there.<\/p><div id=\"daves-67352927\" class=\"daves-single-post-in-content-4\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<div id=\"daves-4024714626\" class=\"daves-after-content\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"3225321574\" \ndata-ad-format=\"autorelaxed\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Phishing&#8221; refers to an attempt by criminals to trick people into revealing sensitive personal information, especially banking and financial details. These attempts are delivered mainly either via email or text message. In this article, I&#8217;ll be explaining phishing email. In the early days, phishing attempts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,57],"tags":[311,59,226],"class_list":["post-143303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-email","category-scams","tag-email-2","tag-phishing","tag-scam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}