Scammers know how valuable your personal and financial information is — and they’ll do or say almost anything to get it. What can you do to keep it safe?
The best way to protect your info from scammers is to recognize a phishing scam, but how do you know what to look for? Imagine you saw this in your inbox.
At first glance, this email looks real, but it’s not. Scammers who send emails like this hope you won’t notice it’s a fake.
Here are signs that this email is a scam, even though it looks like it comes from a company you know — and even uses the company’s logo in the header:
- The email appears to come from a legitimate company name or department, but the sender’s email address will show who it is really from.
- The email has a generic greeting.
- The email says your account is on hold because of a billing problem.
- The email invites you to click on a link to update payment information.
While actual companies might communicate with you by email, legitimate companies won’t email or text with a link to update your payment information. Phishing emails can often have real consequences for people who give scammers their information, including identity theft. And they might harm the reputation of the companies they’re spoofing.
Keep your info safe from scammers:
- Don’t give your info to anyone who contacts you out of the blue. Honest organizations won’t call, email, or text to ask for information like your Social Security, bank account, or credit card numbers.
- Don’t click on any links. If you get an email or text from a company you know and do business with, contact them using a website you know is real. Or look up their phone number — but don’t call a number they gave you or the number from your caller ID.
- Update your security software. This will protect your computer and phone from security threats, which could expose your personal or financial info to scammers.
Report It
Report the email to Polar so our spam filters can be adjusted. This helps protect you and our network.
- With the suspicious email selected in Webmail, click on MORE and then Download (.eml)
- Open a new email and send the download as an attachment to [email protected]
Please be sure to contact us if you have any questions or are unsure about any emails you receive. You might spot these frauds — but someone you know might need support. Please share this info with your friends and family.