How to spot a phishing email

Courtesy of Gene Sorkin, Associate Director of Information Technology Support, here are some telltale signs to look for the next time an email that smells phishy hits your inbox.

Keep an eye out for misspellings, such as legitimate business names that are missing or off by just one or two letters. Additionally, an unexpected email from an address that you never communicated with before is a good early sign of a possible scam.

Subject lines containing too-good-to- be true offers or threatening statements meant to elicit an emotional reaction are clues that someone’s trying to phish you.

Watch out for mass email sends or unexpected emails to email aliases like the example below.

Any messages addressed generically, especially ones regarding financial transactions are suspicious.

Extreme caution should be exercised with any link appearing in an unexpected or unsolicited email. Hover over the hyperlink text to see where the URL would actually direct you if clicked. Scammers will also try to implant real business names in fake URLs.

Phishing emails can take many forms, whether it's threatening legal action or telling you an unexpected package has arrived. Be on the lookout for demands to click, free offers, bad grammar or misspelled words.

In all circumstances, unexpected attachments should not be opened.

Here is an example of a scam email, take a look at the items outlined in orange:

The signs above are good overall points to look for when scrutinizing a suspicious email. However, they do not represent all ways in which scammers will attempt to phish you or other employees. That’s why a separate but vitally important way of spotting a phishing email is to email CCITECHSUPPORT@nycourts.gov.

If an email just feels off for any reason, that’s enough to be wary of it. A healthy dose of security awareness, with some skepticism and situational awareness thrown in, can go a long way.

Comments

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