Archives - Phishing Scams


Beware of phishing text messages

Phishing scams aren’t limited to email. It’s a good habit not to respond to any text messages from senders you don’t recognize. If you receive a suspicious text that claims to be from a person you know or a popular company, double-check by making a new text message thread with the person or contacting the […]

Look out for fake coupons in emails

Lots of phishing scams include the phisher posing as a major retailer and then sending emails claiming to contain coupons that you redeem by clicking them in an email. To stay safe, never click on one of these offers if it seems to good to be true, comes from a long/garbled email address, or is contained in […]

Teach yourself to recognize phishing scams

Phishing scams often look like legitimate requests for information, but there are lots of ways you can spot a phishing attack. Suspicious sender addresses, unsolicited attachments and spelling and grammar mistakes are all signs that a request for information is not legitimate.

Be suspicious of emails with urgent subject lines

There’s a common practice of sending direct mail disguised as courts summons or other official documentation, to make a reply more likely. Many phishing emails can take basically the same approach, only in digital form. That is, they might use all-caps subject lines (e.g., “URGENT:”) to make it seem like action is required. It isn’t. […]

Never give a password via email

No company will ever, under any circumstances, ask you for your password via email. Any email asking you to provide your password is a phishing scam. If you ever need to enter your password, always type the URL of the company’s site directly into the hyperlink bar to be sure the site is genuine. Also […]

Look out for email extortion scams

Phishing is regularly associated with tactics such as a scammer telling someone they’ve won a prize, but it can also take the form of attempted extortion. Be wary of any email threatening to expose something about you unless you quickly submit payment. Simply delete it instead of engaging at all.