Phishing Example Email

What is it?

Phishing emails are used by hackers and scammers as an attempt at tricking you into giving away your personal information, whether it be usernames and passwords or bank account information, etc. Phishing emails come in many different forms, but typically the sender will make the email contents appear as though it comes from a trustworthy entity, such as your place of work. These emails almost always include a fabricated sense of urgency, for example telling you that your password is going to expire tomorrow and that you need to change it immediately. Phishing emails usually include links that will take you to malicious websites. These websites typically will mimic a real webpage of the company the sender is pretending to be with, and the webpage will ask for your credentials.

 

 

Tips for identifying phishing emails:

• Check the sending address to make sure it matches who the sender is claiming to be. Most of the time, the sender is sending from an unusual email address that doesn't match up with the email itself.
• Watch out for a fake sense of urgency. Scammers will create fake senses of urgency to try and get you to interact with their email.
• Before clicking on any links, make sure the link goes to where you would expect it to. This is done by hovering over the link without clicking on it.
• Look out for misspellings. Scammers will often use misspelled words to avoid spam filters.