Body
Phishing is when criminals use fake emails to lure you into clicking on them and handing over your personal information, or installing malware on your device. It’s easy to avoid a scam email, but only once you know what to look for.
See it so you don’t click it.
The signs can be subtle, but once you recognize a phishing attempt you can avoid falling for it.
Here are some quick tips on how to clearly spot a fake phishing e-mail:
- Be aware of the "Sender is from outside warning label"
- Contains an offer that’s too good to be true
- Language that’s urgent, alarming, or threatening
- Poorly-crafted writing with misspellings, and bad grammar
- Greetings that are ambiguous or very generic
- Requests to send personal information
- Urgency to click on an unfamiliar hyperlinks or attachment
- Strange or abrupt business requests
- Sender's e-mail address doesn’t match the company it’s coming from - "not just the name - look at the email address"
Oh no! I see a phishing e-mail. What do I do?
Don’t worry, you’ve already done the hard part which is recognizing that an e-mail is fake and part of a criminal’s phishing expedition. Do not click on any links (even the unsubscribe link) or reply back to the e-mail. - REPORT IT (see below if using outlook/college mail) or just delete it.
If you have already clicked the link, REPORT IT and consider changing your password and contacting the IT Support Help Desk.
