Phishing Emails- Take steps to stay secure online
Our League is a very large target for hackers, scammers, phishers and other bad actors on the internet. News headlines, especially during election years, puts Florida, the Palm Beach area and the League of Women Voters in the spotlight. While the League enjoys much good media coverage for its mission and activities, some of the attention it gets is unwanted, fraudulent and criminal.
As a member and supporter of the League’s goals, you must be aware of the potential mishandling of digital communications- especially emails. Our members are sometimes targeted by scams and misinformation. These emails may look like they are coming from the League President, or the League in general, but they are not.
No one from the League, especially the President and Board Members, will EVER ask for donations, money or sensitive information in an email. If you receive any emails that are suspicious, please report them right away to help@lwvpbc.org and delete them. This also includes messages from Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter and other social media outlets.
To stay safe from Phishing Emails, follow these general rules:
- DON’T OPEN THESE EMAILS AND MESSAGES.
- DON’T RESPOND TO THESE EMAILS AND MESSAGES.
- DON’T SEND MONEY OR PERSONAL INFORMATION.
- REPORT THESE EMAILS.
- DELETE THESE EMAILS IMMEDIATELY.
What is phishing?
A phishing attack is a scam that aims to ‘fish’ information from the receiver by posing as a legitimate email.
The phishing definition from Wikipedia is “the fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by disguising oneself as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.”
A phishing email will often try to disguise itself as a legitimate message from a bank, online service or other company. It will then include a link to a fake phishing site – a site that looks just like the legitimate company it is imitating – where it will ask for your username, password, credit card details or other information.
Once you enter this information, it will, of course, be in the hands of the cyber criminal.
Often you will be redirected to the legitimate site after you have entered your details – so you won’t immediately realise that you have just fallen for a phishing scam. You may only realise something has gone wrong when information has been stolen from your accounts – or your bank account has been emptied.
Along with viruses and malware, phishing is an example of cyber crime.
Want to know more? Here’s a link to a good article explaining more.
The Most Common Examples Of A Phishing Email- read another great article explaining this
- The Fake Invoice Scam
- Email Account Upgrade Scam
- Advance-fee Scam
- Google Docs Scam
- PayPal Scam
- Message From HR Scam
- Dropbox Scam
- The Council Tax Scam
- Unusual Activity Scam
