Phishing consists of a series of techniques in which, through social engineering, one tries to obtain a benefit at the cost of the integrity of personal data. We can receive phishing messages both by email, SMS, phone calls or social networks. Phishing is not something new, it has been working for almost 2 decades and they are nothing more than the transposition of the usual classic scams , which see a new field of action on the internet. By social engineering it takes advantage of the data that we are leaving, for example, in social networks. These can be used by criminals to obtain our very defined profile. They can know our tastes, hobbies, places we like to visit, the company we work for … With all this data, we can prepare a message that seems credible to us and in which we easily fall. Recognizing the phishin g is too complex for us, but sometimes we get carried away by the rush and fall. So taking note of these tips can help you keep phishing at bay.
Avoid phishing, everything you need to know
First we will start with the one we receive via SMS, also known as SMishing . These messages usually have as sender a current mobile number or a longer one with a prefix from another country. In them there is always a link that we are invited to click with great urgency. Before these messages we must always act in the same way, eliminating them. It is enough to read the content to know that we are facing a scam attempt. We are informed that we must collect a package that could not be delivered, or that we have an overdraft or any incident in our checking account and that we must solve it quickly. If you receive the notice from a bank with which you have no business relationship, don’t bother, but if it is your bank, verify the authenticity of the message by calling your entity to confirm it. Haste or urgency is always the ally of scammers, so when faced with such an urgent message, it is best to do the opposite and take it easy. Analyze the information, copy the content of the message and paste it into the search engine you use. Surely you get interesting information and that will end up raising your doubts.
We can also find the classic variant, which is received by email. Our SPAM tray is usually full of very varied messages, although from time to time one of them sneaks into the inbox and that is where the danger lies. The keys to detect it are these:
- The writing is usually very poor. There are rare expressions in our language, and there are spelling and grammatical errors.
- If the message has logos, it is noted that the tones of the colors may be different or that the proportions are not adequate.
- The sender of the mail uses a domain from Hotmail, Gmail or any free provider. It is very striking in the case of companies, none of them are going to address you from a non-corporate domain.
- Haste and urgency are the hallmarks. You are informed that you have a pending fine, that your bank account is blocked or that some services to which you are supposedly subscribed have been suspended.
- The links in the message do not have https security protocol.
Therefore, all these details are telling us that this message we have received has no credibility. Making good use of email filters is the best measure, and if any have crept into your inbox, mark them as spam so it doesn’t happen again.
What you should never do when phishing
This technique is very common, in fact we suffer it on a daily basis. When you receive an email or message of this type, everything you should not do is summarized in these points:
- Feeling fear or being carried away by haste. Generally, when it comes to an emergency, no company or person communicates with us by email, usually makes use of the telephone call. As we have said, phishing can also enter through these types of calls. If we hear one with a threatening tone or that does not require something urgently, we must always identify the interlocutor and never identify ourselves. You must provide us with your name and surname and in the usual case that you identify yourself as a lawyer or detective, request your collegiate number. Most likely, if it is a scam, it automatically hangs up. It is also not a bad idea to record the phone call , there are applications that do.
- Give any personal information. Of course, neither are any card or bank account numbers.
- Click on the link of an email that we have doubts about its authenticity. Always do all possible checks.
- Having easy-to-guess passwords is unforgivable. Follow our recommendations to get a safe good in a simple way.
The Internet is the ideal breeding ground for scams and phishing , so being always on the alert is the best protection measure. In these cases, distrust is always life insurance that can prevent us from compromising and unpleasant situations.
