Phishing scams are everywhere now and it’s easy to fall for them. According to recent research from Norton, two-thirds of cyberattacks so far this year have been phishing scams. You’ve probably seen it in your inbox, or maybe in text messages sent to your phone.
They usually work on the basis of fear: a message disturbing enough to encourage you to click on the link to solve the problem, whatever it is.
Whether it’s a problem with your payment information that will cause a service or subscription to stop or a missed delivery that needs to be rearranged, scammers will send messages that appear to be from genuine companies.
If you click on the link that is inevitably included somewhere in the message, you will likely come to a fake version of the company’s website with a login screen or form to fill in details such as your name and address, maybe even payment information.
And if you don’t realize it’s fake and enter it anyway, you’ll be sending that personal information directly to scammers who will use it to log into your real account (and possibly others if you reuse the same email and password combination) or steal your identity and use it to take out loans and other fraudulent activities.
In addition to paying attention to the common subject lines below, you should also practice refraining from tapping or clicking on a link until you’ve made sure it’s not a scam.
These are examples only, and messages in your inbox or on your phone may use a different company name or be worded slightly differently.
- Your Netflix subscription has ended because we’re having trouble with your current account information.
- Your Apple Pay has been suspended, please update your information by visiting:
- Verify your account within 24 hours or your PayPal account will be permanently terminated. Sincerely, PayPal
- Reminder: If late files are not processed, it will affect your credit.
- Your package cannot be delivered due to an incorrect house number.
- Your online account is temporarily locked due to an unusual login attempt. Please log in and confirm your information.
- DANGER: A THREAT has INFECTED your LAPTOP! ACT NOW to PROTECT your CONFIDENTIAL FILES on
- You can get paid $100 for taking this 2 minute survey!
- Your payment is late. Please avoid your fine, please consult
- Hello Your FEDEX package with tracking <|numéro|> waiting for you to set your delivery preferences:
- Amazon: your account has been locked due to suspicious activity:
. Click the link below to unlock your account. - [Inland Revenue] You have a pending refund. Please pick it up now at:
- myGov: Your tax return for [amount] could not be processed due to insufficient information provided, please update immediately at
- eFlow: you have been checked in on the highway without paying the appropriate 6.40 visit fee(s) <|url|> or an additional fine of 97.50 will be sent to your home address.
Not all phishing scams are based on fear. Some, like getting paid to take surveys, work on the basis that you’ll hand over personally identifiable information in exchange for a reward. In some cases, these may be genuine, but even after verifying that it is not a scam, ask yourself if the reward is really worth passing on this information.
It’s also a good idea to run security software on your devices — both your laptop and your phone — that can flag fake websites and even potentially dangerous links in messages like these. Then you won’t have to rely on spotting these scams yourself.
