In the past few years, phishing, smishing, and vishing attacks have grown exponentially.
Phishing is a scam in which a hacker or criminal changes the look of their website or email address to make it look real. Most of the time, these thieves send emails or text messages with links to fake websites. Once the user enters their personal information, like their credit card number or Social Security number, these criminals can steal the information and use it to do illegal things.
Phishing is a dangerous computer threat. In 2017, over 4.5 million people in the United States alone were victims of phishing, according to statistics. This number is likely to increase as scammers develop new ideas and get better at what they do.
Vishing and smishing are types of phishing that happen over the phone or through text messages. Criminals use this trick to get people to give sensitive information like passwords or credit card numbers. Most of the time, the criminals will pretend to be from an honest company, like a bank or Social Security, to get the information they need from the victim.
Learn the thieves’ tricks to avoid phishing, vishing, and smishing. It’s also essential to make sure your computer has good security software and to be careful about emails and texts that look suspicious. If you think you are a victim of phishing, you should contact your bank or the Social Security Administration immediately.
Scam Online: How to Avoid Getting Scammed
The following tips help you how to avoid scams online.
How to Avoid Phishing? Several Tools and Apps Can Prevent Phishing
- Browser Security: Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have built-in anti-phishing features. For example, you can add the “Web of Trust” extension to Firefox, which will warn you if you go to a website that looks suspicious.
- Antivirus: Install and keep up-to-date antivirus programs on your computer. Many phishing websites can be found and blocked by antivirus software.
- Phishing Filter: Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge are two browsers that have phishing filters that block phishing websites.
- Legitimate Websites: Ensure that the web address is written correctly when you visit a website. For example, a real website like Amazon.com should be written as “https://www.amazon.com” and not as “https://www.amazon.com.phishing-site.com.” Also, safe sites have a lock in the browser’s address bar, which shows that the site is secure.
How to Avoid Vishing? Several Tools and Apps Can Help You Avoid Vishing
- Identify Unknown Calls: If you get a phone call from a number you don’t know, you can use an app to find out who it is.
- Block Unknown Calls: You can get an app that blocks calls from numbers that are not in your contacts or that you don’t know.
- Report Vishing Calls: If you get a vishing call, you can tell the right people, like your phone company or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
- Record Calls: You can install an app that records calls so you can listen to them later and decide whether to answer or not.
How Do I Avoid Smishing? Several Tools and Apps Can Prevent Smishing
- Block Unknown Numbers: You can get an app that stops text messages from unknown numbers from getting through.
- Antivirus: Install and keep up-to-date an antivirus program on your phone. Many phishing websites can be found and blocked by antivirus software.
- Report Smishing Messages: If you get a smishing message, you can tell your cell phone company or the Federal Trade Commission about it (FTC).
- Identify Unknown Numbers: You can use an app to find out who sent you a text message from a number you don’t recognize.
Here Are Some Ways to Protect Yourself From Phishing, Vishing, and Smishing
- Never click on links or attachments in emails or texts from people you don’t know or that seem sketchy. If you get an email or text message from someone you don’t know, don’t answer it. Just delete it.
- If you get an email or text message from someone you know but don’t trust what it says, you should contact the sender to find out if it’s real. Even if the email or text message is from someone you know, don’t click on any links or attachments.
- Do not answer if you are asked for personal or financial information like your Social Security number or credit card number. No honest company will ever send you an email or text message asking for this information.
- Before entering your information, you should always check the website’s address. Websites that are safe to use will always start with “HTTPS://” and have a lock icon in the address bar.
- Ensure you have antivirus software and regularly check your computer for viruses. Malware are harmful programs that can steal your personal or financial information or use your computer to attack other computers.
- Never reply to an email or text message that asks you to confirm or verify your personal or financial information. Consistently, these emails and texts are scams.
- Do not open attachments in emails or text messages that look strange. Malware could be in these attachments.
- If you give personal or financial information to a fake website, you should immediately contact your bank or credit card company. Also, if you gave your Social Security number, call the Social Security office in your state.
Conclusion
To stop this from getting worse, it’s essential to use the proper security measures, like firewalls and email filtering software. Getting employees and end-users used to think about computer security is also necessary.
