Phishing is an online scam used by attackers to trick you into sharing your personal information – such as bank account numbers, passwords and credit card numbers. It comes in the form of an email that includes a link to a phony website where you’ll be asked to fill in your information. If you’re not extra careful, your privacy might be compromised

Phishing is becoming an everyday occurrence for many people, and the emails now look more genuine. We are often contacted by clients, asking “Is this email legit?” so here are a few ways to check if an email is a phishing scam.

1. Most fraudsters use well known banks and act like they are a representative of the bank. Paradoxically, this makes the issue both easy and tricky at the same time. The easy part is, if you do not have an account with the bank mentioned and it is asking for your information, you can be sure it is a scam.

However, if you do have an account with the actual bank, then you will have to examine the email further. But most importantly: do NOT click on any of the links. Never, ever, ever click on suspicious links. If you feel like there’s something wrong with the link, it is mostly likely bait and once you click it, you will be directed to a website that may also contain malware.

In relation to not clicking suspicious links, never open or download suspicious attachments. These may contain a virus or malware that may compromise your personal data without you knowing.

2. The email is not addressed to the recipient (you). For example, if the message of the email appears to be urgent but it is not properly addressed to the recipient (i.e. Dear Customer), then it is most likely a scam. If there is truly a concern with your bank account, wouldn’t your banking institution know who to address the email to?

3. Brands are meticulous with grammar and spelling, and most of the time, before their emails are sent out, they go through a process of editing and proofreading. Carefully read the body of text within the ‘suspect email’ and watch out for any suspicious spelling mistakes in the company name, sender’s email address and body text – or terrible grammatical errors.

4. Beware of threatening subject lines. Most email scams invoke a sense of urgency and include statements such as “account has been suspended” or “Please visit www.bank.com/activate to reset your account”. If you receive an email like this coming from your “bank”, the best way to confirm such urgent matter is to call them.

5. Check the email signature. Legit businesses always provide their contact details. The lack of it either shows that the company is unprofessional or it is mostly likely a phishing email.

Phishers or scammers in general are extremely good at what they do – it’s their profession! They may appear to have legit brand logos and valid emails, and can easily trick you into thinking that they are from a real company. They may be smart, but you can outsmart them by being super paranoid about every email that you receive. Go by the rule of thumb: if the email looks suspicious, it probably is.