Introduction
Phishing scams are when a hacker impersonates someone else in an email, text, or message. They will likely send you a link to click on. The link may be disguised as being from a different company than the one sending you the message. There’s no sure-fire way to know if what you’re clicking is safe. It’s always good to check your bank account and credit card statements so that if there is any money missing or unauthorized charges made, you can report them right away.
Phishing scams are when a hacker impersonates someone else in an email, text, or message.
Phishing scams are when a hacker impersonates someone else in an email, text, or message. This can be done by pretending to be from your bank or another service provider with whom you do business. It can also happen via phishing websites that look like the real thing but aren’t.
Phishing attacks may take the form of a message asking you to click on a link and give up personal information like your password and credit card number—or they may ask for money directly through an online transfer service like PayPal or Venmo. The goal is always the same: to steal your identity and money so they can spend it without getting caught!
If you receive an email that looks suspiciously similar to something sent by your bank or other financial institution, it’s best not to click on any links in the message until you’ve double-checked its legitimacy with someone at that company who will know whether this was actually sent by them or not.
They will likely send you a link to click on.
If you receive an email from a company you do business with but the link in their message appears to be sending you to a different website than usual, it’s likely that they’ve been hacked.
The hackers are often impersonating well-known companies and using their good name in order to trick people into clicking on links for malicious purposes. You may have received an email about an account update or payment due from your bank, but when you click on the link provided, it takes you somewhere else entirely—possibly even to malware software that can steal your information.
If this happens, don’t panic! Rather than clicking on the suspicious link, just let them know what happened via another channel like Facebook Messenger or Twitter DM so they can investigate further. If someone really does manage to access your account through this phishing scam, then there won’t be any financial damage done because no personal information was compromised during its creation process (which would’ve been necessary if they had gained access).
The link may be disguised as being from a different company than the one sending you the message.
One of the most common ways that phishing scams can trick you is by disguising themselves as emails from your bank or credit card company. Often, these emails look exactly like real ones from legitimate companies and include information about recent transactions on your accounts.
However, it’s important to remember that there are many different ways to disguise an email so that it looks legitimate—including copying the design of real-life emails sent by banks and other organizations.
One way you can tell if an email may be a scam is by checking the URL in your browser’s address bar before clicking any links provided in it; if you see something other than what you expect (for example, @bankofamerica.com instead of @bofa), then proceed with caution! You should also never click on a link in a suspicious email; instead, copy and paste its contents into another browser window or tab so that they can’t access any sensitive information about your computer without having first tricked you into clicking on something dangerous to begin with .
There’s no sure-fire way to know if what you’re clicking is safe.
Unfortunately, there is no sure-fire way to know if what you’re clicking on is safe. But there are some steps that can help you minimize your risk of being scammed:
- Never click on links in emails or messages. Instead, go directly to the website by typing its address into your browser bar—or if you want to make sure it really is a trusted source and not just another phishing scam site, call the company directly and ask what their email address is.
- Make sure the sender’s email address is correct. It’s easy for scammers to set up fake accounts that look like they’re coming from someone you know or trust (like an online retailer). If something doesn’t seem right about an email from your bank or another financial institution, call them directly instead of replying to it or visiting any link inside it.
It’s always good to check your bank account and credit card statements.
Most people have bank accounts, credit cards, and other financial transactions that they monitor regularly. If you see a charge on your statement that you don’t recognize, contact your bank right away. They may be able to cancel the transaction or provide some additional information about what happened.
You can also check your credit report to make sure there are no fraudulent charges on it. It’s very easy to get a free copy of your credit report once per year from each of the three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. You can order these reports from AnnualCreditReport.com (which is actually operated by each of the three big bureaus).
Conclusion
If you think you’ve been targeted by a phishing scam, contact your bank or credit card company immediately. They can help you get your account back and stop any unauthorized activity.
