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 1. Blog Home
 2. Online Scams
 3. Phishing email examples to help you identify phishing scams

Online Scams


PHISHING EMAIL EXAMPLES TO HELP YOU IDENTIFY PHISHING SCAMS

 * Dan Rafter
 * Published: January 10, 2020 3 min read



Learn how to identify phishing email scams. Here’s what they look like and how
to spot a fake.

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Ever get an email message from your bank warning you that your savings and
checking accounts have been locked because of suspicious withdrawals? That email
might ask you to click on a link embedded in the message to verify your identity
and keep your account open.



Don’t fall for this scam. The odds are that the email is an example of phishing,
an attempt by scammers to trick you into providing personal or financial
information that they can then use to steal money from your bank accounts, make
fraudulent purchases with your credit cards, or take out loans in your name.



If you do click on a link in a phishing email, you’ll usually be taken to a new
web page that looks like it belongs to your bank or credit card company or
even PayPal. That page will ask you for your personal and financial information
— maybe your account numbers or log in credentials, like your username and
password. Once the scammer behind this bogus page gets that sensitive
information, they can easily access your financial accounts.



Phishing is a form of social engineering — phishers pose as a trusted
organization to trick you into providing information. Phishing attacks are
showing no signs of slowing. But if you’re careful, you can avoid falling victim
to them. Remember, your bank or credit card provider will never ask you to
provide account information online. When emails ask for this information, that’s
the first sign that they’re scams.



Check the links that these emails ask you to click, too. If you hover over them,
you’ll see their true addresses. They’re usually not affiliated with the bank or
credit card provider they are spoofing.



Fortunately, there are usually other telltale signs that an email is phishing
for your personal information. Below are examples of recent phishing emails.
We’ve analyzed these emails so you’ll know what to look for when determining
whether an email is legitimate or a scam. And that can help you boost your
cybersecurity.




RECOGNIZING PHISHING EMAIL SCAMS



What are some general clues that an email isn’t legitimate but is instead a
phishing email?




GRAMMATICAL ERRORS



Many phishing emails are filled with grammatical errors, odd capitalization, and
misspellings. The emails might also contain odd phrases or sentences that sound
a bit off. Read your email aloud. If something doesn’t sound right, or
professional, be suspicious. It could be a phishing attack.




LOW-RESOLUTION LOGO



Phishers will often cut and paste the logos of government agencies, banks and
credit card providers in their phishing emails. If the logo is of low quality —
it’s fuzzy, indistinct, or tiny — this is a sign that the person contacting you
doesn’t really work for that company.




ODD URL



One of the easiest ways to tell if an email is a scam? Hover over whatever link
the message is asking you to click. This will show the link’s URL. Often, you’ll
see that the URL doesn’t belong to whatever company is supposedly sending you
the message.



Again, this is a sign that a scammer is trying to trick you. Just be careful
when hovering. You don’t want to accidentally click on the link.



Here are some phishing examples to consider.




PHISHING EMAIL EXAMPLE: INSTAGRAM TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION SCAM



Two-factor authentication, or 2FA, is one of the best ways to protect your
personal or financial information. When you log onto a site — say your online
bank or credit card provider — you’ll have to provide your username and password
as usual. If you have two-factor authentication enabled, the site will then send
a text or email to you with a code. You must enter that code before you can
complete your log in to the site.



Scammers, though, are now using this extra security measure as a way to trick
you. A new phishing campaign is targeting Instagram users, sending them emails
claiming that someone has tried to log into their Instagram accounts.



The email asks recipients to sign into a site that is supposedly run by
Instagram, a social media service. It’s not, of course. But what’s interesting
is that the scammers include a code at the bottom of the message, implying that
users should type that code in — as if it was an example of two-factor
authentication — when they sign into the spoofed web page.




HOW CAN YOU TELL IT’S FAKE?



This is a well-done scam. There is one tell-tale sign that the email is fake,
though. If you click on the link and access the spoofed website, the domain name
displayed in your browser’s address bar will be .CF. That is a country code for
the Central African Republic. That’s why it’s smart not to click. Instead, hover
over the link to see the true address.




PHISHING EMAIL EXAMPLE: ACCOUNT TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED



You might receive a notice from your bank — or another bank that you don’t even
do business with — stating that your account has been temporarily suspended.
Why? According to the email, your bank has discovered unusual activity on your
account and has decided to shut it down to protect you.



The email will then ask you to click on a link to reactivate your account. This
link will take you to a fake page that asks for your user ID and password.



This, of course, is fake. When you enter your account information, you’ll be
giving it directly to a scammer.




HOW CAN YOU TELL IT’S FAKE?



There are usually several clues that such emails are fake. First, look for
spelling or grammatical errors. In the example above, supposedly sent by
SunTrust, you’ll see that the sentence “We recently contacted you after noticing
on your online account, which is been accessed unusually” doesn’t really make
any sense.



If you hovered over the Suntrust.com link in the live version of the image
above, you’d see a link to a shortened URL at bit.ly. If you unshorten that
link, you’ll discover that it leads to a pet-food company in Israel, not to
SunTrust.




PHISHING EMAIL EXAMPLE: TAX REFUND SCAM



Getting an unexpected windfall of cash? Who wouldn’t want that? Be careful,
though: If someone sends you an email saying that you’re due a refund or cash
prize of some sort, it’s usually a scam. Consider a common version of this,
the IRS refund phishing attempt.



You might receive an email that looks like it comes from the IRS. The headline
will promise that you are owed a refund from the agency and that you can claim
it online. The body of the message will usually state that the IRS made an error
in calculating your tax bill, and now owes you money, maybe hundreds of dollars.



When you click on the link included in the email to claim the alleged refund,
you’ll either run into a spoof site designed to trick you into giving up
personal and financial information or your computer or device could be exposed
to malware.




HOW CAN YOU TELL IT’S FAKE?



There are clues to alert you that this message is fake. The biggest, though, is
the message itself. The IRS will never email you to ask for your personal
information. If you get a message saying that the IRS owes you money, call the
government agency yourself to check. The odds are high that the IRS doesn’t owe
you anything and that a scammer sent you the message.




PHISHING EMAIL EXAMPLE: NETFLIX PHISHING SCAM



You never want your Netflix account to go down. But don’t worry about that email
claiming your Netflix account is on hold. It’s a fake.



The Netflix account-on-hold scam is a popular one, probably because so many of
us rely so heavily on Netflix for entertainment today. In this scam, criminals
send an email, supposedly from Netflix, complete with the company’s logo, saying
that the company is having trouble with your current billing information. You’re
then asked to click on a link to update your payment method.



You know the rest: The link is a spoof site. When you enter your credit card
information, you’re sending it directly to cybercriminals.




HOW CAN YOU TELL IT’S FAKE?



Again, Netflix won’t reach out to you through email to request your personal
information. If you receive a message like this from Netflix, call the company
directly to determine if you really do need to update your account.



Also, pay attention to the language of emails like this. In this example, the
scammers behind the email start their message with the salutation "Hi Dear." No
business would address its customers in that way.




PHISHING EMAIL EXAMPLE: CEO PHISHING SCAM



Some phishing attempts have limited targets but the potential for big paydays
for crooks. A good example? The CEO phishing attempt.



Scammers send these emails to the employees of specific companies. The trick is
that these messages come from addresses that appear to belong to the chief
executive officer, chief financial officer, or other highly-placed executive in
a company. The email will ask the employee to wire money — often thousands of
dollars — to a vendor or client. Only later does the employee realize that the
message was a scam.




HOW CAN YOU TELL IT’S FAKE?



CEO phishing emails are often sophisticated. You can look for misspellings or
grammatical errors, but you might not spot any. You can check the email address
of the sender, too. Often, it will be similar to the company’s email format, but
with a slight difference.



The biggest clue, though, that these messages are fake? Wouldn’t your company’s
CEO or CFO ask you in person to send large sums of money and not rely on sending
such an important request through email?



If you do get one of these messages, no matter how legitimate it looks, contact
the person who purportedly sent it. Make sure that the executive sent the email
and that a savvy scammer isn’t trying to steal from your company.


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 * Dan Rafter
 * Freelance writer

Dan Rafter is a freelance writer who covers tech, finance, and real estate. His
work has appeared in the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and Fox Business.

Editorial note: Our articles provide educational information for you. Our
offerings may not cover or protect against every type of crime, fraud, or threat
we write about. Our goal is to increase awareness about Cyber Safety. Please
review complete Terms during enrollment or setup. Remember that no one can
prevent all identity theft or cybercrime, and that LifeLock does not monitor all
transactions at all businesses. The Norton and LifeLock brands are part of Gen
Digital Inc. 

CONTENTS


 * Try Norton 360 FREE 7-Day Trial* - Includes Norton Secure VPN
   
 * Recognizing phishing email scams
 * Phishing email example: Instagram two-factor authentication scam
 * Phishing email example: Account temporarily suspended
 * Phishing email example: Tax refund scam
 * Phishing email example: Netflix phishing scam
 * Phishing email example: CEO phishing scam
 * Try Norton 360 FREE 7-Day Trial* - Includes Norton Secure VPN
   



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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