Adam Taylor

What is a phishing scam? How to avoid being phished?

Phishing scams are attempts to acquire information like usernames, passwords and even credit card details by disguising itself as a trusted source via electronic communication. You could receive phishing scams via email, txt message, instant message or even on social networks and often direct a user to a fake website that mimics the look and feel of a legitimate one.

Why are so many people falling for phishing scams?

Well, since the average user becomes familiar with the web they normally rely on visuals as identification of trustworthiness and then blindly enter their personal information into the beast, becoming “phished”. A phishing scam can store the information and then even redirect you to the trusted site and log you in, sneaky!

Are phishing scams a security issue?

Absolutely, if someone has access to your email account they could blindly stalk your account for a few months learning your email habits, websites you frequently use and even banking institution information. When they know you’re not using your email, they go to these sites and complete password resets which will email a link to change the password on these sites to your email, which they have access to. Once they reset the password to one of the unknown they remove all traces of emails in your account so the next day you have no knowledge of the scam.

How do I detect a phishing scam?

The clear indicator of a fishing scam is one that takes you to a unknown domain name and looks like a trusted one. For example “phishing-site.com” would be a clear indication of a phishing scam if the page looked like PayPal and you’re on “phishing-site.com”.

What about “paypal.securesite.com/paypal/login/ref=google&l=en&p=2463671”? Well it can be confusing but the domain you are on is “securesite.com” which could be owned my Mr. Phish himself. Make sure to hunt out the “domain.com” part of the url to know exactly where you are on the web.

How do I avoid a phishing scam?

If you ever receive an email thats questionable, you should always open your web browser and type in the address of the website the email is pretending to be. This way you can be positive you’re navigating to the “paypal.com” secure and trusted website. If there are issues with your account, which most phishing scams claim, the trusted website will alert you when you log in about the issue, if any.

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Adam Taylor

Owner / CEO at MyWebsiteSpot.com

I'm an untiring advocate for internet security, despise email spam, own an Orlando Web Design & SEO Company and most importantly... I always offer FREE advice.

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