Watch out – those pesky hackers are at it again. If you are one of thousands of people who have received an alleged “Revenue Refund” noftication over the last week then dont pop the champagne just yet – its a phishing scam. In case you are not familiar with all things phishing – it has nothing to do with a rod and reel but is a sophisticated attempt to trick someone into giving away sensitive information. This scam ususal takes the form of an email which looks like its genuine but is in fact fake. So how can you tell – well here are the warning signs.
- Non Personal Greeting – Look out for a generic non specific greeting like “Dear Customer” instead of having your actual name in the greeting.
- Sender Email – The address shown on screen make look its from The Revenue but when you hover your mouse over the address it is from some other email address.
- Bad Grammer – The sender may be composing the email from a non English speaking country so look out for mistakes in grammer or sentance punctuation.
- Sense Of Urgency – In order for the scam to work there is usually an urgent deadline implied where you must “act now” or “reply soon” giving you less time to think or enquire.
- Link Of Doom – These scam emails always have a link for you to click on which usually bring you to a fake website which looks very like the real one one (logos et al) but which will capture and redirect you login details to criminals as soon as you enter them.
All of the items marked below in yellow are indicators of a scam email – so know the signs. Always keep our computer updated with the latest software and antivirus programs as an extra level of security.
