Phishing is a serious threat to both companies and their customers. Thankfully, there are several ways to tell if an email is legitimate or part of a larger phishing scheme. Here are a few of the most common phishing warning signs:

 

• Grammar and spelling errors: No professional and reputable company would send out an email riddled with spelling and grammar errors. In fact, most legitimate companies wouldn’t send out an email with any of these errors- but a phisher would.

 

• No personalization: If you were sent a vague or general email, it’s likely that it’s from phishers rather than the company they claim to represent.

 

• Urgency: Phishers are in a hurry to get your personal information. If there is a sense of urgency in the email, beware. Most companies would call you to discuss pressing matters.

 

• Unsafe links: Phishers oftentimes will leave internal links in the email content to dangerous websites that can steal your information. Before clicking on any links, hover your mouse over the URL to check that it’s legitimate.

Asks for personal information: No reputable company would ever ask you to send sensitive or personal information via email. They would always do so in person or over the phone.

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