What is Phishing Email and Tips How to Get Rid Off
Phishing emails are one of the most common types of cybercrime. Even though there have been many victims, there are still many internet users who are still unfamiliar with the definition of what is phishing email.
As the development of digital technology is growing rapidly, many people are trying to take advantage of it for their personal gain. In fact, many also use negative and irresponsible ways.
Now even many frauds occur in cyberspace, one of which is an online crime called Email Phishing. This online crime is quite rampant and can even take a large number of victims.
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What is Phishing Email?
Before discussing in more detail what is phishing email, you need to first understand what it means. The purpose of this is to be able to get a more complete understanding and information on phishing emails.
According to the WikiPedia page, Phishing is an act of fraud carried out in cyberspace with the intention of stealing personal information belonging to a person or an organization. This phishing action is usually done via email to the user’s email address.
So, in general Email Phishing is an act of exploitation with the aim of stealing someone’s personal information through email media. As the name implies, phishing comes from the word fishing or fishing. Fraudsters lure their targets by sending fake messages asking for personal data to be sent.
The data will then be used to carry out other negative actions such as stealing on your behalf, hacking computer systems, to other actions that are detrimental from a security perspective.
How Phishing Emails Work
Although it looks simple, in fact the way phishing emails work is relatively complex. Because phishing emails also require the negligence of users or potential victims so that hackers can get the personal data they need.
In general, an overview of how phishing emails work is as follows. The perpetrator sent the email using an account that looked like a trusted agent. They ask you to update your account by clicking on the link sent.
Read: What is a Cybercrime and How to Protect Yourself from Them!
The link does not take you to the company’s official website, but a fake site that is deliberately created by the perpetrators to get your personal identity. Personal identities that are commonly requested are real names, account names and passwords, even important numbers such as account numbers.
Once it reaches the perpetrator, information like this will then be used to hijack your account or worse, commit fraud on your behalf. This of course can be a very detrimental activity and can endanger the personal data you have.
How to Avoid Phishing Emails
After knowing what is phishing email, you also need to know about how to avoid it. Because phishing emails are a threat of crime that can target anyone and at any time.
You should always be careful with messages from any party that asks for your personal information. When you get a message like that, here are some tips you can do to avoid phishing emails.
1. Identify the Contents of the Email
One way that can be used to avoid phishing email attacks is to be careful with the contents of the email. You should be wary of messages asking for personal information. Especially if the message is not personally addressed to include your name. This is because phishing emails are usually sent in bulk to many people.
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The scam message will also contain urging sentences such as “Your account will be closed if you don’t send data for 24 hours”. Never rush to submit the requested information without thinking.
Remember that official sites will never ask for your personal data via email. We recommend that you ignore messages with such content to avoid unwanted things.
2. Perform Account Authenticity Check
The next tip that can be used to prevent phishing email attacks is to check the authenticity of the account. Before submitting the requested information, be sure to check the sender’s email address and phone number. Is it in accordance with the company or not.
Usually the perpetrator will also include a link that is claimed to direct you to the company’s official website. Make sure you also check the authenticity of the link. The trick is to hover over the link that was sent. If the URL of the link doesn’t match the description of the link, it’s likely that the link is directing you to a fake site.
Phishing email perpetrators will definitely use an address that’s created to be similar to the company’s, but it’s definitely not the same. You should check it through the company’s official website so as not to be deceived.
3. Recovering Personal Account
If you think your email account has been taken over or you have already submitted personal information, the best thing to do is to restore your account. The goal is that the email account is not misused by hackers for their benefit.
Immediately change the email password you use to reply to messages. The alternative email that you may also include when filling in the data, it is also advisable to change the password. You can create passwords with unique combinations so they are not easily hacked. Combine letters, numbers, and symbols to increase the complexity of your passwords.
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If you have already sent your account number, please contact your financial institution for further processing. These preventive measures can be used to prevent the threat of financial loss due to phishing emails that you experience.
4. Immediately Make a Report
Currently two platforms that are quite popular used to create a free email account are Yahoo and Gmail. Both platforms are very popular and have a fairly large number of users.
Yahoo and Gmail will usually give a warning or immediately include a suspicious message as part of spam. However, if there is a message in your inbox that is identified as fraudulent, you can immediately report the message.
You can also move the message yourself to the spam folder. That way, the email party can analyze it and immediately recognize similar messages in the future. This will make you more secure and comfortable and can avoid the possibility of cyber attacks in the future.
Conclusion
Phishing emails are actually a very common type of cyber crime. These emails generally target users who are less careful and also still careless in dealing with the threat of cybercrime.
In general, Email Phishing is an act of exploitation with the aim of stealing someone’s personal information via email. Hackers will be able to get the victim’s personal data for their personal use through the emails they send.
That’s a complete discussion of what is phishing email that you need to know. Now that you have read reviews about phishing emails, you can be more aware of the potential threats and harm that these malicious activities can cause.
