Common Red Flags and Tips For Dealing With Phishing Emails

Phishing emails are fraudulent email messages that appear to come from legitimate sources. Cybercriminals design these messages to trick you into responding or clicking links that lead to malicious websites. Their primary goal is to get you to provide your private information, such as your passwords and financial information.

Common Red Flags in Phishing Messages

• Aggressive or urgent subject lines
• Excessive spelling and grammar issues
• Requests for personal information
• The message claims to be from a government agency, such as the IRS or FBI
• You receive a shipping notification, but you didn’t order anything
• Generic messages that appear to come from your actual contacts
• The message promises something that seems too good to be true, like a free vacation

Avoiding Phishing Emails

• Don’t open attachments from unknown sources
• Hover over URLs and verify the hyperlinked address before clicking
• Look for misleading domain names in URLs. For example, info@google.com would belong to google.com, however googleinfo.freevacation.com would not
• Only confirm software installations that you initiated
• When in doubt about the validity of a sender, do your research
• Don’t accept “support” from people you don’t know
•Treat all emails as if they’re suspicious