14 Aug 2024
A report by the World Population Review has revealed that there are about 331.4 million migrants in the world. They leave their native countries to work in foreign countries, earn a living, and offer financial support to their families back home through every money transfer they make.
Unemployment leading to poverty is the driving force, pulling millions of people out of their native countries. However, once they are in foreign countries, they have to send money online, which leaves them vulnerable and exposed to online fraud.
One of the most common online scams and frauds is the Phishing attack. It is the most commonly used tactic to trick you into surrendering your sensitive information to the scammer. This blog walks you through how you can spot phishing scams and how to protect yourself against them.
In your online presence, regardless of the purpose, you are already prone to online fraud and attacks. It gains more importance when it comes to your online presence for financial purposes. Therefore, it is critically important for you to understand phishing attacks and learn about the points that can help you spot these attacks.
A phishing attack occurs when a scammer approaches you by pretending to be representing an authentic organization. For example, someone will call you or email you by feigning to be the representative of your bank.
On learning that you often conduct an online money transfer to offer financial support back home, a scammer will design a Phishing attack and reach out to you. When they do it, here is how you can spot these phishing attacks.
The first tip is to look for emails that make certain offers to you that are too good to be true. These emails can be about getting a job, winning a lottery, and getting a visa for a foreign country. If you look at the content of these emails, you will realize that the offers defy simple logic and common sense. These will, however, appear irresistible. But resist them at any cost.
Another way to spot a Phishing attack is to look for emails that seek your personal information. As mentioned earlier, the scammer will pretend to be representing your bank holding your personal information. Always remember that your bank never asks you for your personal information whatsoever. So, never share your personal information with anyone.
Although scammers tend not to make mistakes in their Phishing emails, they still have not reached a level where their emails are free of errors. When you receive any email, make sure to check its grammar, spelling, flow and how the narrative is drafted. It will help you spot a phishing attempt.
A phishing email begins with more generic greetings. These emails do not address you directly by mentioning your name or, for example, designation. These emails begin with generic greetings such as ‘Dear Sir’, ‘Dear Ma’am’ or ‘Dear Account Holder’ in case the email is seen to have been originating from a bank or another financial institution.
Phishers want you to act quickly and respond to their calls or emails the moment you receive them without thinking. For example, if you're going to send money, you might receive a call or an email from a scammer requesting you to respond to their requests quickly and without thinking.
You are most likely to receive a call or an email from someone you just do not know. If this happens, try to understand the purpose of the call and email and delete it right away the moment you realize that they are seeking your personal information.
Look for an email asking you to click a link or an attachment to the email. These are suspicious links, and if you click them, you will end up getting trapped by the scammers. Such links are sent by strangers, which is all the more reason not to open them in the first place, let alone click the links and the attachments.
So far, you have seen the things that help you spot Phishing attacks. Now let’s look at the simple and easy tips to avoid these Phishing attacks. If you follow these easy tips, you will protect yourself from falling prey to these phishing attacks.
No matter how tempting the title of an email is, never open it. Some of the most commonly used titles in Phishing emails are ‘Account Suspended’ or ‘Funds on Hold’. These are surely Phishing emails. Avoid opening them and delete them without opening them.
As mentioned earlier, Phishing emails typically include some links and attachments. The content of the email draws you to click the link or open the attachment. Clicking these is a sure recipe for disaster. Avoid clicking these suspicious links.
Whenever you receive an email seeking your information of any kind, never share it in emails. Even if the email appears to be coming from an authentic source, avoid sharing your information. More so when the information being sought is financial.
Learn more about online financial fraud HERE.
Hackers and online scammers will send you random pop-up ads. These are not simple ads. Instead, malicious links are embedded in these ads. Therefore, if you click these links, you will be trapped and fall victim to a Phishing attack.
Given that you use your smartphones to be present online, you must install strong anti-virus software on your gadgets. Make sure to keep your software updated and keep scanning your gadgets regularly.
You help online scammers and hackers with their plans of fleecing and trapping you if you connect to an open and public Wi-Fi connection. Open internet connections are prone to hacking. Therefore, never connect to an open Wi-Fi connection, particularly when you want to conduct some financial activity.
Using spam filters is an easy and straightforward way to protect yourself from online attacks. These filters automatically filter out malicious emails and links sent through illegitimate sources. But after using spam filters, make sure to be extremely careful in case a Phishing email gets past this filter.
You need to find a credible remittance transfer service provider to send money online. Because this is where you become most vulnerable to online frauds and scams. You wish to offer financial support back home and the scammer is out and about to fleece you.
A slight security breach by the service provider can help the scammer fulfill their nefarious designs. Therefore, check your service provider's security parameters and see if they charge you a low fee and offer live and market-competitive currency exchange rates. These rates will compensate you for the expenses you have paid in addition to tightly secured online transactions.
Phishing attacks are one of the most common types of online scams. In Phishing attacks, a scammer will send you an email or call you. They will pretend to be representing an authentic institution such as your bank. These scammers then ask you to share your information or click the links they have sent you in the emails.
Spotting a Phishing email is easy. You simply need to see if the offer is too good to be true; you are asked to share your personal information, look for spelling and grammatical errors, find generic greetings instead of being addressed directly, and forced to take immediate action without thinking, you are contacted by strangers, and asked to click suspicious links.
Staying safe from Phishing attacks is equally easy. You simply need to avoid opening suspicious emails, never click suspicious links, never share financial information through emails, never click on random pop-up ads, always use spam filters, but be extra careful while using such filters, and never connect to an open and public Wi-Fi connection.
There are different types of Phishing attacks. All of these Phishing attack types have one purpose in common, and that is to fleece you financially. Some of the most common phishing attacks are email phishing, spear phishing, clan phishing, whaling, and pop-up phishing. But the best part is that these can all be spotted and guarded against in ways explained above.
Online money transfers are the most vulnerable area and most prone to online scams particularly Phishing attacks. Therefore, make sure to choose your online remittance transfer service provider with utmost care and after thoroughly checking their security parameters. A slight breach in the security can lead to a significant financial loss.
Resource(s)
· Global Migrants
