Almost every person has received an email claiming that they won something, or that they need to pay $1000 or else they’re going to prison. These emails are known as phishing attempts. Phishing is the sending of fraudulent emails, where the sender claims to be someone they are not in order to steal personal information or to get a user to download malware.
Although most email services do a good job of filtering out spam and phishing emails, sometimes some will manage to get past the filters and end up in your inbox. These emails may contain a link, or some may even have a phone number to call. After visiting a link or calling the number you’ll typically be prompted into giving personal information such as your social security number, bank account password, and credit card information. It is also worth noting that the name of the sender can be faked, or slightly altered, to make the email seem more legitimate.
In general, the best way to avoid phishing is to avoid clicking links or calling numbers in emails, especially from unfamiliar email addresses. If one of these emails seems legitimate, it may worth confirming with a trusted source, such as calling your actual bank instead of a number listed in an email. Another good rule of thumb is that if it seems too good to be true, it is. Below are examples of phishing attempts pulled from my own email, so that you can familiarize yourself with what these attempts might look like.
