How to tell a Phishing Email from Legit Email
1. Phishers use false statements in the email they send to you, hoping they will upset or excite you, and that you'll react immediately to their request. They might threaten dire consequences if you don't respond, such as terminating as account or instituting a steep fee for reactivation of the account. If the consequences to not replying or acquiescing to their demands seem unnecessary steep, contact the real organization in question, via phone or email, and ask if this email is theirs.
2. They will ask for things such as a user names, passwords, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, name address, and other personal data. You will never be asked by a reputable company or institution to provide this kind of information via email.
3. Phishing emails are rarely personalized. They rarely address you by name in the text of the email. Valid emails from your bank or e-commerce company generally do. This isn't to say that an email addressing you by name are phishing emails. I'm talking in generalities here. If it seems phishy, er, fishy, then it probably is. When in doubt, contact the institution in question before doing anything.
Advice: Remember never to give personal information in email because you never know where that email will go. Email could get lost or intercepted. Furthermore, you don't know the identity of the person receiving the email. As convenient as it is to provide information ask in email, it is not the risk worth taken. Moreover, depending on where the email came from, certain information ask should be a red flag. If the email from a bank ask for your name then it is a big red flag because why would they ask for your name again if they already knows.
2. They will ask for things such as a user names, passwords, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, name address, and other personal data. You will never be asked by a reputable company or institution to provide this kind of information via email.
3. Phishing emails are rarely personalized. They rarely address you by name in the text of the email. Valid emails from your bank or e-commerce company generally do. This isn't to say that an email addressing you by name are phishing emails. I'm talking in generalities here. If it seems phishy, er, fishy, then it probably is. When in doubt, contact the institution in question before doing anything.
Advice: Remember never to give personal information in email because you never know where that email will go. Email could get lost or intercepted. Furthermore, you don't know the identity of the person receiving the email. As convenient as it is to provide information ask in email, it is not the risk worth taken. Moreover, depending on where the email came from, certain information ask should be a red flag. If the email from a bank ask for your name then it is a big red flag because why would they ask for your name again if they already knows.
- Check the email address of the sender
- No To: email address
- Non-personal
Source: Windows Lockdown! by Andy Walker