Phishing scams can ruin the reputation of your organization and cost you countless dollars. These scams often attempt to trick employees into giving out personal login information or click on a malicious link. Educating employees on the common signs of phishing scams is critical in staying proactive against these evolving threats. Cybercriminals will continue to develop a wide range of phishing schemes, but many of these scams often share similar traits with each other.
Here are a few of the most common signs of a phishing scam.
Misspelled Email Address
Cybercriminals often attempt to mimic legitimate organizations to deceive employees into providing login information. A slightly misspelled email address can often trick an employee and cause them to be the next victim of a phishing scam. However, it’s important to train employees to always double-check an email address before responding to an email.
Asking for Personal Information
An email that asks for any type of personal information is always a major red flag. These messages may attempt to scare employees into acting now due to a data breach or suspicious activity on their accounts. These scare tactics are often effective at causing employees to react without thinking about the consequences. Training each employee to never give out personal information through email is essential in limiting the effectiveness of these scams.
A Deal Too Good to Be True
Some phishing scams offer an amazing deal to trick employees into clicking on a malware-infected link. These messages may offer free gift cards for signing up for a newsletter or a particular service. However, it’s important to teach employees that almost nothing is free in life. Contacting your IT service department is always a good idea to further investigate the legitimacy of the email. These messages often contain malware and other cybersecurity threats that can cause widespread damage to your network.
Poor Grammar
A typo can always happen to anyone that sends an email. However, multiple typos or poor grammar is a sign that you are dealing with a fraudulent email message. Phishing scams with poor grammar usage often happens if the cybercriminal isn’t well-versed in the English language. The best option is to block these messages and move them to the spam folder.
Phishing scams will always remain a problem in the workplace due to the widespread use of email. The best way to limit the success of these scams is to educate employees on how to recognize these schemes. Training employees to never give out personal information through email is always important in staying proactive against these threats. Using an email service provider that specializes in spam filtering is also a great way to limit the number of fraudulent messages sent to your company. Phishing scams will continue to evolve, but staying up to date with these threats is critical in keeping your business safe.