Email Phishing: What it is and How to Avoid Falling Victim

Email phishing is a sophisticated form of cyberattack that cybercriminals use to trick their victims into revealing their personal information. They do this by sending an email, pretending to be from an organization of interest, such as the victim’s bank. The email, for instance, will be disguised as a bank request, asking them to click on a link, fill out a form, or download an attachment. When the victim does as instructed, they unknowingly reveal their personal information. The cybercriminals will then use it for their personal gains.

Many people have fallen victim to email phishing frauds, leading to the loss of sensitive information and money to fraudsters. The good news is that you can take simple steps to prevent yourself from falling victim to email phishing.

How to Avoid Falling Victim to Email Phishing

1. Once you receive an email that looks suspicious, delete it right away. You can easily tell a phishing email through various means. For instance, large organizations such as banks will never use an email address containing ‘@gmail.com’ or ‘@yahoo.com’. They instead have their own personalized email addresses like ‘info@bankdomain.com’.
2. If you receive an email with a link asking you to click, verify its destination first by hovering over it. Such a link could be leading you to a phishing website. Phishing websites are designed to look exactly like the legitimate company’s website. A malicious link’s address in a phishing email does match the one for the legitimate website. Once you enter personal information such as login details on the website, you will be giving it away to criminals.
3. Use an anti-phishing browser extension like Cloudphish. It will sniff out phishing emails from legitimate ones.
4. Avoid entering personal information on random websites or pop-up windows.
5. Never open an email attachment unless you trust the sender. Instead, go directly to the company’s website or contact customer service to verify the message’s authenticity.
6. Do not reply to unsolicited messages asking for personal information. Scammers often use this tactic to trick people into giving them their login credentials.