There are plenty of scammers and hackers on the internet with the goal of using email or text messages to trick you or your employees into giving them your personal information.
Luckily, Summit IT Solutions has developed numerous ways to prevent and detect these schemes from working. Here are 8 tips and clues to protect yourself from phishing scams:
- Is the message or email you have received sent from someone you are expecting or know? Be cautious of emails from unknown senders.
- Is the email coming from the correct domain?
- Make sure that the domain is not misspelled.
- Make sure that there isn’t an additional domain added.
- Is the email asking you for something that normally isn’t asked (buy gift cards, call a number, etc.)? This is a very common tactic used in phishing schemes, and should immediately raise suspicion.
- Is there an attachment (usually Excel), or a link asking you to review something or participate in a survey? (again usually from someone you aren’t expecting)
- Tip: You can hover your mouse over the link to see where it leads and to confirm it won’t redirect you.
- Poorly written emails with many spelling and grammar issues can also raise red flags.
- Is the email causing a sense of urgency or have a deadline or immediate call to action? Is it asking you to do/click/buy something right away?
- Legitimate companies will address you by your name usually, not by something such as “Valued Customer or Account Holder”
- Legitimate companies will never ask for personal information, such as your social security number, through an email or text.
