How to Determine if an Email is a Phishing Scam [Video]

Phishing emails are nothing new, but they work because they often look like official communication or generate a sense of urgency. So how do you outsmart and outmaneuver these kinds of attacks? We’ll break it down in this video. 

0:53 #1 Sender Email mismatch 

Be mindful when a sender’s email doesn’t match their known email address. Sometimes, cybercriminals will try to pass themselves off as someone you know. The first thing you should do when you get an email is to check the sender's email address. If it doesn't make sense, don't open it.   

1:15 #2 Questionable hyperlinks 

Phishing emails often include links that take you to websites designed to look like legitimate financial institutions. These sites may ask for your personal information or login credentials. Often, the goal of such phishing emails is to unwittingly steal your login credentials: Ultimately leading to the theft of your money or assets.   

2:10 #3 Creating a sense of urgency 

Scammers often tap into your sense of urgency to get you to click on their links: "Click here now," they'll say; "This offer expires at midnight tonight;" and so on. The truth is that most of these emails aren't time-sensitive at all; they're just trying to make it seem like they are, so you end up clicking on them.   

2:29 #4 Batch email sending 

A batch email is a form of spam that's sent out to multiple recipients at once.  They're used by scammers to trick people into clicking on links designed to steal your information or opening attachments that could lead to malware infections or other types of fraud. 

Now that you know the signs an email is a phishing scam, check our blog article “Stop Clicking on Everything: Train Your Team to Avoid Phishing Emails” to learn how to train your team to outsmart cybercriminals.