Phising

Phishing is when an email is sent by a criminal that looks like a genuine message from a bank, online trader or other legitimate organisation. The email says that you need to update your information and provides a link to do this. However the link, although often looking genuine, goes to a website run by the criminals who then steal you personal information such as bank details, passwords etc.

Spotting Phishing

The best defence against phishing is common sense. Most reputable institutions do not ask for personal information via email so if you get an email from a bank etc. asking for personal information it is likely to be fraudulent. Often the emails are sent to people who do not have an account with that company.

The emails themselves are often superficially convincing but on closer inspection contain spelling errors or bad grammar. Likewise although the link provided may appear genuine it is actually to a similar sounding domain to the real company or uses redirection to take the victim to a different website.