{"id":862,"date":"2020-04-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jumpsec.com\/2020\/04\/07\/phishing-scams-are-up-600-how-to-recognise-and-avoid-scams\/"},"modified":"2024-02-29T10:51:24","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T10:51:24","slug":"phishing-scams-are-up-600-how-to-recognise-and-avoid-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jumpsec.com\/guides\/phishing-scams-are-up-600-how-to-recognise-and-avoid-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Phishing scams are up 600% – How to recognise and avoid scams?"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text text_direction=”default”]\r\n
Cyber criminals have been focusing all their efforts on scams that capitalise on the panic of COVID-19.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The biggest risk is Phishing scams<\/a>, malicious messages that appear from a trusted source. With attacks up more than 600% since February 2020.<\/p>\r\n\r\n If you want to know what types of messages to look out for, keep reading and see what the typical Phishing messages are!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n Phishing attacks come in many forms, but all have the same purpose: to trick the recipient into handing over their personal details or to infect their systems with malware.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The scammers do this by including a link to a bogus website that imitates a genuine site, contact detail (such as an email address or phone number) or by attaching an infected file to the message.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Phishing attacks are usually delivered by email, but they also occur on instant messaging platforms, by text (smishing) and over the phone (vishing).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n Here is an email a member of our team recently received:<\/p>\r\n\r\n This is about as basic as a phishing scam can get, and we hope you\u2019d recognise it was one. For one, the message is addressed generically to \u201cFacebook\/Instagram user\u201d \u2013 and the social media giant has apparently forgotten how to spell \u201cInstagram\u201d.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Then there\u2019s the pretext of the message: Facebook has decided to award one of its users $1 million as compensation for coronavirus. You\u2019d have thought that if this was a real giveaway, you\u2019d have heard about it before now \u2013 probably along with angry comments about why the money wasn\u2019t donated to healthcare facilities.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Although this message is basic it provides a useful typical example of phishing, along with the tricks that criminals use.<\/p>\r\n\r\n So, you can see the big giveaways: it contains grammatical errors, a generic greeting, implausible content and a request to hand over personal information.<\/p>\r\n\r\n There\u2019s also the bait-and-switch for where to send that information. That is to say, the message claims to be from Facebook, so you\u2019d imagine the return email address would be something ending in \u201c@facebook.com\u201d, rather than a Gmail account.<\/p>\r\n\r\n All this seems simple enough to spot, but things get trickier when the scams are more sophisticated. In the next section, we review some of the more believable scams you should be looking out for<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n At first glance, this text message \u2013 which many people across the UK received last month \u2013 looks authentic:<\/p>\r\n\r\n The message claims that the UK government is paying all residents \u00a3258 to help them during the disruption caused by COVID-19. That sounds plausible and it is in a similar format to the nationwide text that the government sent when the UK went into lockdown.<\/p>\r\n\r\nHow do phishing scams work?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n
Compensation for Coronavirus outbreak scam<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n
UK government payment scam<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n