Nowadays, hackers can easily access your personal information through your email. Phishing scams will trick you to allow these scammers to access your accounts. However, there are several ways to prevent this. You should not open suspicious attachments, click on promotional links or run updates sent from email. Avoid accessing your financial accounts from emails, instead, you should properly log in to the website of the financial institution. You should be careful when opening emails or text messages.
How To Identify Phishing
Usually, scammers will use text messages or emails to trick you into providing them with your private data such as your Social Security number, account numbers, passwords, etc. After obtaining that information, they can easily gain access to your bank, email, and other personal accounts. You should be aware because scammers are launching various types of phishing attacks such as these every now and then. Unfortunately, they are often successful with their strategy.
Although scammers sometimes change their tactics, however, there are always some signs that can help you in identifying phishing emails or text messages. Sometimes these messages seem like they come from companies that you trust or recognize such as credit card companies, banks, online stores, online payment sites, or social networking sites. What these scammers do is they will tell you a convincing story to trick you to open an attachment or click a link.
For instance, they might say that you are eligible for a government refund, they have noticed some suspicious activities, they want you to confirm some personal information, they claim that there is an issue with your account information, they include a link for payment, or they will give you a coupon for free stuff.
At first glance, you will immediately think that it’s real but it’s not. These scammers who are sending these emails have nothing to do with the companies. Once you provide your information to these scammers, you will be facing some serious consequences. At the same time, they can cause harm to the reputation of the companies.
We are not trying to scare you, but this is a very serious problem. You should not risk your online security by ignoring the possibility that your personal information may have been hacked.
Unfortunately, if it’s already too late and you have discovered that your iPhone has been hacked then be sure to research how to fix the hacked iPhone.
Steps In Protecting Yourself From Phishing
Email spam filters can help in preventing these phishing emails from getting into your inbox. However, scammers are trying to look for ways to outsmart these spam filters. Hence, it is always a good idea to have some additional protection. The following tips can help you in protecting yourself from these phishing attacks.
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Use Security Software
Protect your smartphone or computer by installing security software. Be sure that the software updates automatically so it can still be effective whenever there are new security threats.
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Use Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication can help in protecting your account since it will require two or more credentials before you can access your account. The additional credentials might be your face, retina, fingerprint, or passcode you obtain from an authentication app. By using multi-factor authentication, it will be difficult for scammers to log in to your accounts.
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Back-Up Your Data
Having a backup is one way of protecting your data. Be sure that your backup is not connected to your home network. You can back up the data on your phone or computer to the cloud storage or to an external hard drive.
What To Do If You Receive Phishing Scams
In case you receive a suspicious text message or email that asks you to open an attachment or click an email then you should ask yourself if you know the person who sent this or if you have an account with this company. If there is none, then most probably this is a phishing scam. Remember the signs of recognizing phishing scams. If you see these signs, then you should report the message immediately and then delete it.
On the other hand, if you knew the company or person who sent this to you, then get in touch with them using the phone number or email address on their website. Do not use the information provided in the email. Links and attachments in emails could install harmful malware.
What If You Have Already Responded
If you have already opened an attachment or clicked on a link, then you should update your security software and run a scan.
