Phishing Scam
How this scam works
Phishing scams are meant to trick a person into entering personal information or login credentials on websites that look like real ones.
Once the scammer obtains this information, they'll have access to personal to your data and account. This allows them to make unauthorized purchases and commit identity theft.
Commonly scammers target people using text messages or emails. These messages range in various topics, including fake giveaways, promotions, billing statements, and suspicious account activities.
The content may either be personalized or generic. The best way to avoid these scams is by learning how to identify fake websites.
Let's walk through real examples:
You receive a text message regarding your unused $100 Amazon Reward credits. At first glance, this message looks harmless and informational. This is not true.
Let's break down the message and analyze it.
Artsrun, you still have $100 Amazon Reward credit:
This is a personalized message; it uses a name and is meant to excite the victim to open the link to get their reward. It is uncommon to receive giveaways or rewards if you did not sign up for it. This is our first red flag.
See what you can buy before it expires on 3/25
This sentence is meant to make the message look urgent. So the victim is more likely to open it thinking it's limited time offer. This is our second flag.
This message also includes links (internet addresses) you can use to navigate to claim your reward. As this is a real malicious text message, we've masked parts of the links and text message. First, we should understand we should always do our best not to open links from text messages or emails. Always navigate directly to the company's website. In this scenario, we know Amazon's website is amazon.com, so we should type amazon.com in our internet browser's address bar.
The links provided in this text message do not resemble amazon.com. This is our final flag. For the sake of this example, we'll walk through what happens if you do open the provided links.
Amazon or Bogus Site?
We've navigated to a website that looks like Amazon.
This is a bogus website.
Looking at the address bar, highlighted in blue in picture, we can see it does not say amazon.com; instead it says amazon-na.winnerof.today.
We should close this page and avoid entering any information. If you've already entered information, please quickly change your passwords.
If you input a credit card number, reach out to your credit provider and ask them to connect you to the fraud department.
The phone number of your credit provider can usually be found on the back of your card.
Legitimate Amazon Site
For comparison, let's look at the real Amazon website.
In the address bar, highlighted in blue in picture, we can see it says amazon.com
Always check the browser navigation bar to confirm you are on the correct website before entering any information.
A similar process follows for emails.