Email Phishing Scams_ Prevent Common Threats by Using the S.T.O.P Method
email phishing scams are no longer just
Nigerian Prince's asking to wire money
into your bank account they're much much
more sophisticated and if you think that
you're too smart to be fooled think
again
hi I'm Shoaib this is all things secure
thank you for joining me whether you've
come here on your own search or whether
you've been asked by a friend or a
family member to watch this I hope that
you'll take it too seriously we're gonna
be walking through what's known as the
stop method the stop method means that
when you look at an email you're gonna
ask yourself four questions is this
email suspicious is it telling me to
click a link or a button is it offering
something that's too good to be true and
is it pushing me to do something
immediately or fast if we can do that if
we can train ourselves to be a little
more critical of the emails that are
coming into our inbox we're gonna be
much better positioned to not fall for
many of these very complex very tricky
email phishing scams that are coming in
to our inbox nowadays now with each
question I'm gonna provide some examples
that you can see approximately what it
might look like for you to have this
type of scam come into your inbox we're
gonna start with s obviously which is
suspicious does the email look
suspicious have you ever opened your
email before and you just kind of get
this feeling that something's off
I feel real weird about tonight
sometimes that happens and sometimes
it's a legitimate email but sometimes
that's a red flag that means you should
be paying a little closer attention
that's what happened at my unit my
hammie University community
Federal Credit Union if you look at this
email here they've got a logo it looks
legitimate but if you look really close
there's a couple things that just make
it feel not right there are words like
accounts that are misspelled or there's
a proper improper use of grammar there's
an impersonal closing where it doesn't
even offer the name of the person who's
writing the email these are not an
indication immediately that that's a
scam but it is something that should set
off the alarm bells and make you look
closer before you click any links in
that email before you do anything that
that emails asking you to do stop the
second question you need to ask yourself
is is this email telling me to click a
link or a button another popular scam is
let's say the Netflix email scam where
you
get an email saying your account is
gonna be suspended if you don't update
your billing there's been an error and
your billing please click here so you
click on that email you go to the
website you sign in with your
credentials and you add in your billing
information just like they asked you to
and you're good to go your Netflix
continues to stream but what you didn't
realize is that that link sent you to a
copy of the Netflix website where you
just gave them your login information
for Netflix in addition to all of your
billing information this scan can easily
be avoided I'll tell you how in just a
moment but that's something you need to
be always watching out for if an email
tells you to click a link or click a
button unless you are a hundred percent
sure that that link is good
try not to click it just you know pull
that finger back you don't don't click
it the third question you should ask
yourself is is this email offering
something that is too good to be true my
favorite example of this is the IRS tax
refund phishing scam let's say you got
an email in your inbox that said that
the IRS had miscalculated your taxes and
they now owe you a refund of four
hundred and something dollars sounds
great doesn't it all you have to do is
click here and apply for that refund
sounds like everything that you would
want but it is a little too good to be
true isn't it if something's offering
you something too good to be true stop
and the fourth and final question is is
this email pushing you to do something
immediately or quickly now this is the
type of scam that really preys on our
emotions so let's say you get an email
from what you think is a family member
or a friend telling you that they are
stuck in some place and they need money
immediately in order to fix their car or
to get back to their house or to get a
hotel room and they need you to wire
this money don't even ask about it just
send this money to this bank account
please can you help me tell me did you
send the money now of course we want to
help and maybe they do need help but
again you need to stop before you just
quickly do something that may cost you a
lot of money in the end so let's say now
that you've asked the four questions and
you're suspicious that this email is a
phishing scam what do you do now that
those red flags in your header
well there's one thing that I recommend
and that is to find a way a different
method or a different mode of
communication to confirm the veracity of
that email what do I mean well let me
tell you a story if you've ever heard of
Barbara Corcoran who's one of the Sharks
on Shark Tank in 2020 she revealed the
fact that her firm was swindled out of
almost $400,000 because of a very simple
phishing scam it went like this her
accountant her bookkeeper was sent an
email from their email address that told
the bookkeeper to pay an invoice to that
amount of three hundred and seven
thousand dollars immediately his so it
looked like it came from Barbara it was
something that was common that they had
to do to pay these invoices and so she
did it wasn't later until they realized
that that email was actually a phishing
scam the bank account was the bank
account for that fraudster and they had
just lost more than a quarter of a
million dollars now what could they have
done there's a couple things from a
corporate standpoint in their email
security that they could have done but
let's look at this from a personal
standpoint the bookkeeper could have
taken a different form of communication
to confirm this with Barbara instead of
emailing back which the hackers might
have seen she could have walked into
Barbara's office and asked is this an
invoice that you asked me to send she
could have texted her she could have
called her she could have used a
different type of instant message to
confirm that that was an actual invoice
that Barbara immediately wanted her to
send and that's something that you can
do as well let's say that you get this
urgent email from a friend of yours or a
family member asking you to send money
we'll find a different way to connect
with them to confirm that that is
something that is actually happening if
you are getting an email from Netflix
saying that you need to update your
billing information instead of using and
clicking that link why don't you go into
a different browser click into Netflix
and open that up
and find out if they're actually asking
you to update your information same with
a bank same with anything else don't
click on the links type in your own URL
don't immediately do what they're asking
you to do you need to confirm it through
a different method now is this gonna
protect you from all phishing scams
absolutely not there's gonna be new and
better ways that people figure out how
to scam us out of our money and how to
scam us out of our information but these
four simple questions is this email
suspicious is it telling me to click a
link is it offering something too good
to be true is it pushing me to do
something immediately these if we can
keep that in our mind and allow them to
send up those red flags are going to
keep us from falling from the most
simple email phishing scams that are out
there hopefully this is helpful to you
if so share it with somebody else you
know who might be a little more
susceptible to this kind of scam let
them know how they can protect
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through all things secured thanks so
much have a wonderful day