Information Security and Phishing

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A good understanding of phishing will help you to better protect yourself against this real and widespread threat.

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.  

Your questions about information security