Thankfully, with enough diligence you can usually spot a phishing email or webpage from a mile away. They’ll often have broken English, sloppy designs and complicated URLs that give up the game right away. But what if hackers are able to accurately spoof a trusted email address and website so we can’t detect it? How dangerous would it be for our data? As it turns out, hackers are already a step ahead of security-conscious users. A new phishing scam masquerading as a major web service has been fooling people with warnings of overdue bills. If you fall for the scam and enter your information, your personal data can be compromised. Here’s how they’re getting away with it, and what you can do to avoid falling victim: According to new reports from security analysts at BleepingComputer, a phishing scam outbreak is tricking users into revealing their info with a fake unpaid bill notice. The scam is spreading via email, and has already managed to deceive plenty of people with how convincing their bogus material looks.
How can I protect myself? How can I tell a real alert like this from a false one?
You can’t blame people for falling for such a deceptive scam. To beat this one, you’ll need to use your best judgement and keep in mind a lesser-known red flag.
In addition to that, most big-name platforms won’t send emails like this unless you’re subscribed to a paid service. If you receive an email about unpaid debts and aren’t sure what to make of it, call the company to verify its legitimacy. DO NOT click on the “Contact Us” option in the questionable email. Go to the actual company website and log in through their secure site to find the correct phone number. The realism of this scam email should be a stark warning about the state of our inboxes. Emails are not exclusively beneficial and any message you receive should be treated with caution and skepticism; otherwise you end up running the very real risk of data and financial compromise — and nobody can afford to suffer that.
