What to Do If You Receive a Phishing Attempt (2024)

FAQs

What to Do If You Receive a Phishing Attempt? ›

Do not open it. In some cases, the act of opening the phishing email may cause you to compromise the security of your Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Delete it immediately to prevent yourself from accidentally opening the message in the future. Do not download any attachments accompanying the message.

Forward phishing emails to [email protected] (an address used by the Anti-Phishing Working Group, which includes ISPs, security vendors, financial institutions, and law enforcement agencies). Let the company or person that was impersonated know about the phishing scheme.

Your email security tools might then recognize the attacker as someone you trust, allowing future phishing attempts to land directly in your inbox. Additionally, any personal information you provide can be used for hard-to-spot spear-phishing attacks against you.

If you downloaded any attachments from a phishing email, don't open them — they could contain malware that can steal your personal information or lock you out of your data. Not sure if your device has a virus from a suspicious email or URL? Look out for these system hiccups: Performance delays.

When you are phished, scammers convince you to give up sensitive data — such as passwords, bank account information, or your Social Security Number (SSN) — by tricking you with beguiling emails, phone calls, and texts. With firm purchase on your information, phishers can steal your money or, worse, your identity.

Editor's Picks: Top Phishing Attack Statistics

According to GreatHorn, 57% of organizations experience phishing attempts on a weekly or daily basis. Almost 1.2% of all emails sent are malicious, amounting to approximately 3.4 billion phishing emails each day.

By reporting phishing attempts, you can: reduce the amount of scam communications you receive. make yourself a harder target for scammers. protect others from cyber crime online.

If you have fallen victim to scams or fraud, we encourage you to file a report with federal and state agencies. Also, contact law enforcement offices in your local area to report the crime.

Do spammers know if you open their email? ›

The worst case is that the scammers will see you've opened their email. They can then gather information such as your location, IP address, device type, and operating system (e.g., Microsoft, Mac, Android, iOS).

If you've clicked on a phishing link and were taken to a potentially malicious website, don't enter any information or interact with the website in any way (e.g., click other links or accept cookies). What you need to do is leave the fake website immediately to avoid further problems. Disconnect from the internet.

If you open an email from a scammer without interacting with it, it won't infect your machine, but the scammer will be able to gather data to use for targeted cyber attacks. For example, the scammer may be able to gather your IP address, the Operating System (OS) that you use and your location.

Mark as Spam

If you accidentally open the email on your phone or other device, it is important to mark it as spam. Most email services, such as Gmail and Apple, can filter spam messages and keep them in a separate folder.

Opening an infected attachment can have serious consequences. It may launch a keylogger which steals personal information such as usernames and passwords, takes periodic screenshots, grabs sent emails or harvests credit card numbers and bank details.

If you receive a suspicious email, report it, by clicking on the “Report Phishing” button in Outlook, or by forwarding the email to [email protected]. Not all social engineering attacks start with an email. Voice phishing attacks, also known as “vishing,” are carried out over the phone.

3. Spelling, grammar, and layout. Phishing emails often have poor grammar, sentence structure, spelling errors and formatting issues. Reputable organizations generally send professional communications.

Bad spelling and incorrect grammar are also common indicators of phishing attempts. Emails originating from legitimate sources will usually be free of such issues, especially if the sender is a native English speaker.

There are things you can do to protect yourself from scams: Say no: Ignore a caller that asks you for personal information, such as your PIN, or tells you that your computer has a virus. A genuine organisation will never ask you for these details over the phone, in an email or in writing.