We all get email that fill our inboxes every day. Hopefully most of it is useful communication with friends, family, and businesses, but there are bound to be spam and phishing emails as well.
Spam is unsolicited and unwanted email that is usually an advertisement from a legitimate business. Spam is an annoyance but is usually harmless. If unwanted just delete the email or if it is from a reputable sender there will be an unsubscribe option in email.
Phishing email is quite different. The sender is trying to entice you to do something that is not in your best interest. Generally that something is giving up personal information or a request for money.
A few members have reported authentic looking solicitations from seemingly legitimate email addresses attached to accurate member names.
How to spot a phishing email (and text/SMS messages)
- It conveys a sense of urgency and asked that you act immediately.
- The ‘voice’ of the email is off. We write like we talk. Can you hear the sender saying what is written?
- The sender friendly name does not match email address – Tom Andersen [email protected] A club email address would be nwcsa.org.
- Tricky sending domain – Tom Andersen [email protected]. A bad actor will create a domain similar to a real domain to fool you.
- The request is ‘out of the blue’ and uncharacteristic for the sender (or the sender is unknown.)
If you suspect an email is a phishing attempt delete it immediately.
If email comes from what looks like a known sender and you cannot tell if it is legitimate, do not reply to the email but rather contact the sender via a known good phone number or email address and ask if they truly sent the email.
Bottom line is there are all too many fraudsters out there and you have to think before clicking or acting when you read an email.
More Phishing resources are available. We’ve included this Norton post to get you started.