Phishing Scams

Phishing scams are very common within this modern age. A phishing scam uses email, fake websites and instant messaging to get your personal information such as bank details, passwords and credit card numbers. When they get your details they use it to buy things in your name, create accounts and steal your money.

How do I know if someone is trying to scam me?

There are some obvious signs, but a lot of people don’t know that they were scammed until, they get a letter or a phone call from a company they didn’t buy anything from, or from their bank telling them there has been suspicious activity. There are a lot of things to look out for when receiving an email or website asking for sensitive information.

These are:

  • Spelling mistakes
  • Website url may be different from the actual companies url
  • Email address may not be a company email address
  • Asking for money or sensitive information such as bank details

How do I protect myself from being scammed?

There are tools out there that help you identify phishing scams but the best way to protect yourself is to use your head and be extremely cautious. Some emails may appear to be from your bank and may ask you to update your bank details via a link within the email which may direct you to a fake website. Anything you think looks suspicious or are you’re not sure about, don’t click on them or reply, you can always call your bank or whatever company you think emailed you and confirm if the email was actually from them or not.