I recently received an email, which looked like it was from PayPal, but I instantly could see it was a phishing scam, however they do seem to be getting better at mimicking. Below is the image of the email, the number of errors that highlight it is a phishing scam is in double figures, how many can you spot? I do not want to point them all out, that would be helping the criminals.
I will point out an obvious one, which I imagine they would find hard to correct, that is at the top it says 'Dear Client', this is not specific enough to be genuine email from a company that knows more details about you than just your email address. Some phishing emails would replace 'Client' and put the word of your email address before the '@' symbol e.g. Dear Smith_John, this would also highlight a phishing scam.
My general advice on receiving emails is:
- Read the email, do not just click on the link, even if it looks urgent, that is what the scammers are counting on.
- If you have no instigated an email e.g. requested a password reset, then it is best to assume it is a scam.
- Do NOT use any links provided in the email, instead go to the companies web site through a link of your own (bookmark) or from a search engine. The web site address should have a HTTPS prefix, not just a HTTP.
- If the offer sounds to good to be true, then it is a scam.
- If there is just one thing that does not look right e.g. spelling mistake, poor grammar or poor quality logo then it is a phishing scam.
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