Information Security and Phishing
What is phishing?
Phishing is a deceptive scheme in which a fraudster pretends to be a well-known financial institution or company in order to trick you into revealing personal information, embezzling funds, sending mass emails, or even infecting others with malware.
How to detect a phishing attempt?
Phishing messages often report problems requiring an urgent action on your part, such as updating your data. While others will try to entice you with a potential gain: a cash prize, a gift, a trip, etc. Keep an eye out for clues left by fraudsters:
Verify the sender’s email address
The address of a reliable organization should display the company name “without mistakes” and without special characters. Tip: also watch out for the Internet provider’s name after the @, as letters or numbers are sometimes added.
Check out the links
Look at the related addresses before you even click on them. Tip: visit the organization’s website by yourself and try to find the same page using keywords.
Spot the typos
Grammatical and spelling mistakes are quite common in phishing emails, whereas a serious organization will send you messages written with quality in mind.
How to react to suspicious emails and avoid fraud?
Inaction is your greatest protection:
- Do not click on any links or images.
- Do not open any attachments.
- Do not reply to the sender.
- Never use a number appearing in a received message.
Do you suspect you’ve been the victim of fraud?
Contact your financial institution and follow the recommendations of the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.