Phishing

One of the main ways scammers target victims is through email to try and get your personal information. Fraudsters imitate companies like banks, credit card companies, online retailers, delivery companies, utilities and government bodies. They often use the same logo and an email address similar to that of the real organisation to make their scam appear genuine.

How to spot a phishing email

• Urgent call to action
  Scam emails often indicate something is wrong and that you need to act immediately. They may ask you to update your account details or reactivate your account. They will often claim you need to act now to claim a reward or avoid a penalty.

• Suspicious links or attachments
  Be suspicious of emails asking you to click or open an attachment. It is a common trick to create a false sense of urgency. They do this to stop you thinking about it too much or checking it with someone you trust.

• Unusual email greeting
  When receiving an email from somebody you don’t recognise, examine it carefully. If the email starts with a generic ‘Dear Sir or Madam’, it could well be a sign that it’s not really from the organisation you’re led to believe. Most businesses should know your name and will not address you in this manner. You should also check that the address the email says it’s from matches the name of the sender.

• Poor grammar and spelling
  A badly worded email with spelling errors may be a scam. Most workplaces have specialist staff who handle their communications. It is unlikely therefore that emails from reputable sources will contain such errors.

• Check the email domain
  An email domain is the web address that comes after the @ symbol in an email address. The email might claim to be from a reputable source like your bank, but the email domain shows otherwise. Scammers tend to use a free webmail address like @gmail.com or have a very subtle misspelling of the official domain name. This could be as simple as them having a number instead of a letter in their spoof email address. Make sure you examine the fine detail of the email they send from and cross check it with the official website to see that it’s the same.

‘Smishing’ is where scammers send fraudulent text messages to mobile phones randomly and attempt to get personal or financial details from you. They can be hard to spot as the texts may even appear within a genuine thread of text messages you’ve received from a legitimate organistion.

The kinds of trusted organisations being imitated by these thieves include banks, credit card companies, online retailers, delivery companies, utilities, motorway operators and government bodies. They may even pretend to be a family member of yours in distress and ask you to help by sending them money.

Signs of a smishing scam

There are certain red flags you should look out for:

• unexpected text message claiming to come from a reputable organisation which asks you to visit a website or call a phone number you don’t recognise
• the message will try to alarm you by claiming you need to take urgent action to avoid negative consequences. It might say that you need to verify, reactivate or immediately update your account details, or you may be told you owe a payment or need to pay to avoid a penalty
• you’ll be asked to click on a link in the text bringing you to a fake website – scammers can create very professional looking fake websites that imitate real websites

Further information

The Commission for Commuications Regulation (ComReg) is the statutory body responsible for protecting consumers in this area. Read their advice about scam texts.

Scammers may phish for your personal information directly by phoning you or by voicemail. The scammers will call you pretending to be from well known trustworthy organisations. They will try to trick you into giving them your personal or financial information. They will likely have some details about you already such as your name or address, or they may have details on fraudulent transactions on your account that they have made. Some scammers may also ask you to install software that will later be used to get your personal details when you shop online.

As with the other forms of phishing, they make it sound urgent to get you to act quickly. A persuasive voice on the phone can be convincing enough for people to reveal their personal details. Never give out personal details if a business calls you, instead call them back immediately using a number you know to be legitimate such as the one on the back of your debit or credit card.

Further information

The Commission for Commuications Regulation (ComReg) are the statutory body responsible for protecting consumers in this area. Read their advice about scam calls.