Every time when you hear about phishing, you think of emails and malicious links attached to it. However, that is not it! Phishing attacks can be done via various methods, emails, corrupted apps, phone calls, ads, SMS or social media. Hackers’ motto is to steal your financial and personal information.
So, how to check if someone is trying to victimize you through a phishing attack. As not every threat or attack is as evident as you think, some of them are disguising to fool you.
In this post, we have highlighted the things which could help you identify whether someone is phishing you!
1. The App Can Be A Part Of Phishing Attack
Forged apps can be a real danger to our devices whether is a PC or smartphone. Regardless of the platform, Android or iOS, the hackers or malicious coders find ways to bypass the approval and provide an app which seems to work fine but it steals and sends personal information to unknown parties.
This is not the only method of false pretense. Posting fake reviews on the app store is one of the most common of all. Before installing an app on your device, you generally read reviews and when you see great reviews and happy customer comments, you go for it! However, it could be another way to fool you in the trap. So, when reading reviews, check for similar phrases, suspicious usernames.
Also, if you want to check the app is real, you need to get a closer look at the app interface to figure it out.
2. Getting A Peculiar Text or Call
You get unwanted emails all the time. Sometimes it could be shopping websites providing discounts or credit card offers. This is the common approach of hackers but doesn’t think SMS message phishing and voice phishing are any less prevalent.
Hackers are capable of hoaxing local area codes which are not known, or they can pretend to be a support representative and convince yourselves to provide the credentials for your accounts or devices.
This is one of the easiest ways to con people by hackers. Fortunately, if you look out and keep in mind some of the disclaimers by reputed companies such as Microsoft and IRS, as it says that legit companies never contact customers and ask for their credentials or their personal information. So, if you get a call from an unsolicited number, then hang up the phone and don’t provide any details.
3. You Won A Jackpot
You receive an email saying you won a lottery or get ads saying “Congratulations, you have won an iPhone” This is also a trick to get a person’s banking credentials. You might be thinking, who falls for that?” Sadly, people do fall for these acts in excitement and yearn to get something.
So, if you encounter such pop-ups or emails, block the pop-up, delete the message and block the email address.
Also Read : How To Remove Spyware From Windows Registry?
4. Social Media Accounts Could Be Targeted
Another kind of phishing, “Spear Phishing”, which implies to mining a person’s public profile to scrub private information and posing as someone you know or who you might think as legit. Therefore, you have to be very careful while accepting people’s request.
Surveys and questionnaires could be another weapon used to victimize people. You could be asked to interact with a computer, spin a wheel or provide feedback, as you win the game, you need to provide some information.
These kinds of fake surveys and polls are quite common on Facebook or other platforms. As these surveys are rarely genuine, so it is better to ignore these polls.
5. Check For Fake URLs
Irrespective of how you become victimized by a phishing attack, there are chances that a URL might have played a role. Identifying whether a URL is real or isn’t affiliated with company or identity is really tricky but doable.
Check for the website or person on Google search and check the top view results. If the URL given should match with the top of a search results page. Some of the browsers let you know whether a site address is legit such as Safari. It checks whether the main and subdomain are apt. Most of the time, these URLs are long as Phishers want to keep their intentions concealed.
One more thing can be done. Maintain an address book with contact numbers and their official URLs which are used more frequently. You can also set filters or rules on your inbox, which could spontaneously and tosses out incoming messages on the basis of criteria that you have selected.
6. You Get Warning
Fear is also another factor which is used to make you fall in traps of these scams. You get a threatening message, mostly saying that your device is in danger or your data has been compromised. These kinds of messages mostly trigger quick response. The message asks a user to pay up or information is leaked or lost.
In this situation, don’t panic and first think about it and check whether it is a false threat, or you are locked out of your system for real. If you think, it is a hoax, then close the window and ignore.
Must Read : How To Protect Yourself Against ‘Foreshadow’ Intel CPU Attacks
Well, these are some of the things that you can keep in mind to avoid the phishing attacks. However, in digital life, it is quite impossible to stay safe as scammers know how to target a user. So, it is better to keep your apps, your browser, your devices and social media protected.
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