Before moving
ahead with Coronavirus Scams protection, the first thing you have to know is
Coronavirus Scams. A typical Coronavirus scam involves a phishing email that
recommends that it is from a government agency, like the FTC or even the CDC,
trying to get connected with you. Its goal is to either get information about
you or to steal or hack your money. In this guide, we will discuss some facts
to stay protected against Coronavirus Scams but before that, let’s discuss the
working procedure of these scams.
Coronavirus
scams work such many other email-based scams just by tapping into your fears so
that you react without thinking. You get an email supposedly from an important
government source, and you feel obliged to reply or do whatever it states to
do. Some of the messages are easy to spot, thanks to poor usage of the grammar
or spelling but others can seem extremely professional and as if they are
actually from the source they say they are. Almost all Coronavirus phishing
emails will use language that will make you worry about what could happen if
you do not do what the emails tell you to do.
Protection
against Coronavirus Phishing Campaigns:
So, the question
arises, how do you spot coronavirus phishing mails & protect yourself? The first thing to remember is that the objective of these emails is the same as
any other phishing email for making you click on a fixed link or open an email
attachment.
1. Check
the email address
Hackers are good
at creating fake email addresses that closely resemble trustworthy ones. For
instance, email addresses with the website domain such as “@cdc-giv.org” or
“@who-pc.com.” Firstly, decide if these domains are trustworthy and operational
before acting upon the email.
2. Do not
click on the Suspicious Links
Cybercriminals
contain genuine-looking links in the phishing email for making people click on
them. Although, once the user clicks on them, they are redirected to a
different target URL of a phishing site. Before clicking on any such links,
locate your mouse over the link and view the URL link where it would lead.
3. Beware
of Phishing SMS
Emails aren’t
the sole medium through that hackers targets users for phishing. Cybercriminals
could also send an SMS with suspicious links. Once you click on the link you
are redirected to a website that could hack your financial information. These
cases are far sneakier as the mobile phones hardly have the security ensures we
have on your work computers or laptops.
4. Beware
of Social Media posts
Cybercriminals
know that the people are on the lookout for virus-related information on social
media, and hence, social media is a fertile ground for these activities.
5. Don’t
Submit any Personal Information
As already
discussed, phishing emails aim to get your financial or personal information
and as a rule, don’t submit any confidential information as a response to these
emails. Banks or any trustworthy agencies do not ask for any such data or any
login credentials. Apart from this, delete any emails that ask for personal the detail on a quick or urgent basis.
IMPORTANT
LINKS: How
to protect against Coronavirus Scams?
Have a look
at the protection of Mobile Phones
iPhone
Users
On an iPhone,
open the message in the Messages app and then tap on the profile photo appears
at the top and after that tap on the Info option. On the next screen, tap on
the phone number that is followed by Block this Caller that appears at the
bottom of the next screen. Following those steps will block the number from
both calling and messaging you.
Android
Users
As is usually
the case with the Android phones, the procedure to block a number will vary
depending on who makes your phone and which message app you are using. If you
are using Google’s Messages app and start by opening the spam message and after
that, tapping on the menu button appears in the top-right corner and choose
Details from the list of options.
On the following
screen, just select Block and Report spam that is followed by OK. The Messages
app sends the number and the 10 previous messages from it to Google for
analysis for enhancing future spam detection. Your replies to the number aren’t
sent to Google. Just block the number and unmark the box that appears just next
to ‘Report spam’ before tapping on Ok.
Follow the
above-given tips to stay protected
against Coronavirus Scams. These tips are very easy to follow and you
should do this right now.
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