How to Identify a “Phish” Email

It’s easy to spot a “phish” email if the email subject says something like:

Bank of America – important, please update your details

And you don’t have an account with Bank of America. You’ll know it’s a scam (phish) immediately. But what if you do have an account with the Bank of America?

Or what if you received an email from Paypal saying that your account has been frozen and requires your immediate attention?

This (paypal account being frozen) has happened to me before, so I do pay attention to such emails. So, how do you recognize legitimate emails from the phish emails?

How to Identify a Phish Email

Method #1:
Phish emails are usually in html format – reason be so that they can “hide” the real/actual URL. See the screenshot below:

Notice how the link here is linked to the scammer’s site?

NEVER, EVER click on such links!

Method #2:
IF your email program has this feature, you can enable the ‘view all headers’ in your email program – if you do this, you will see the actual origins of the email. See the screen shot below:

This particular email originate from Taiwan! (mail.easylink.com.tw)

2 Ways to Protect Yourself from Phish Emails
1. If you receive an official looking email from Paypal or your bank or some institution, don’t click on the links in your email. Instead, open your browser and type the URL to paypal, to your bank, etc directly.

2. If need be, call paypal, your bank, etc to verify.

Stay Safe Online!

Best regards,