Phishing

Phishing: how to protect yourself from online scams

What is phishing? It is a fraud organized by criminals to steal confidential data such as credit card numbers or PINs and access credentials.

Phishing derives from the English verb to fish (to fish) and, in fact, often those who do phishing use e-mails as bait, which they send by the thousands, making spam. These emails appear to be sent by known and trusted senders, such as your bank – in this case it is bank phishing. In reality they are bogus emails that invite you to provide confidential data and, usually, contain a link to a website apparently identical to that of the bank.

It looks like the official website, but it is a fake copy designed to deceive people by making them enter confidential information. These are transmitted to scammers who can exploit them to use credit cards, enter home banking accounts and use the money deposited in the account etc. In a similar way, instead of using emails as bait, cyber-scammers can phishing via SMS or chat. Beware of when you play online game like casinoclic casino en ligne.

Tips to protect you from bank phishing

Check the sender’s email address: is it the one the bank has already sent you other communications with? Pay attention to SMS and chat. Be wary of emails and messages asking you to provide confidential data (credit card number, home banking access or other): your bank does not. We contact you only to give you information, answer your request or make an appointment at the branch.

Pay attention to the details: usually phishing emails are not personalized with your name, but use standard formulas (such as “Dear Customer”); they are often ungrammatical (if the scams originate from abroad, the emails are translated automatically); they request confidential information citing vague reasons, such as an unclear “technical problem” to be solved. The same thing goes for scam chat or SMS.

Do not click on the link of a suspicious email or message: you could land on a fake site, even if it is practically identical to that of your bank. Check the address of the website contained in the link, it could be very similar or even the same as the real address of your bank: it is a trick of the scammers to disguise the address of the fake website. Also, consider that your bank has a secure website, ie with an address starting with “https” (not “http”). Pay attention in playing online casino australia legal real money.

Do not get rushed or anxious even if, to force you to give out confidential information, the email or message “threatens” to block your credit card or home banking account.

Do not download any attachments of a suspicious email or message: they may contain computer viruses that install themselves on your system to “capture” confidential data.

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