You receive at least 10 emails a day, stating that you have won a Rs 1 Crore lottery, you are eligible for an interest-free loan, 50 Lakhs has been deposited in your bank account and so on. But, all these emails are not genuine. The main intention of sending those emails is to steal bank details of the user. Many people believe these emails are genuine and provide their bank details, but, later realize they have fallen prey to online fraudsters.
Recently, taxpayers have been getting emails from addresses which look exactly like the original government address. These emails ask taxpayers to provide their net banking details to receive refund amounts, stating there’s an error in calculating the tax. If the user clicks on the link provided in the email, he will be directed to a net banking login page. If he logs in, his bank account will be hacked.
This kind of scam is called Phishing and it is increasing rapidly as people using emails are increasing each day. The phishing emails sent by fraudsters look exactly like the emails sent by the genuine company, so you have to be careful when you receive an email asking for personal information. In this blog, we will discuss how to identify Phishing emails.
Most of the phishing emails sent by the fraudsters contain embedded links. In case you feel that the email is suspicious, you can check the authenticity of the URL by typing that URL in a new window. In case the hyperlinked address differs from the one that is displayed, it is a phishing email. So it is better to delete that email without clicking on it.
Fraudsters do not worry too much about grammatical and spelling mistakes; with their main intention being just to steal your personal banking information. But, reputed companies will never make such mistakes, as they concentrate on creating good content. In case you receive an email which is poorly written, it may have been sent by fraudsters.
Also look out for small spelling errors. For instance, tax refund emails may have been sent by a fake email address which appears as donotreply@incometaxindiafilling.gov.in while the original email address is donotreply@incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. In the fake address, 'e' is missing from 'efiling' and ‘filing’ is spelt as ‘filling’.
See Also: How To Avoid Cheque Fraud?
In case you receive a suspicious email which contains an attachment, it is better to delete it. This attachment may contain a virus that will steal your passwords and malware, which can spy on your internet activity. So never download the attachment from a suspicious mail.
One thing you should always keep in mind is that reputed companies will never ask for your personal information over email or a call. In case you receive an email asking for personal information like card number, CVV and so on, do not respond to such emails.
You might have come across an email, stating you have won a luxury car worth Rs 40 Lakhs and to receive the car, you need to pay GST of a few Lakhs. Do not get fooled by such emails and pay the money. It is a trick used by fraudsters to collect money from you. So whenever you receive such messages, do ignore them.
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