Phishing is website link that appears to be from a legitimate company, but actually attempts to collect sensitive and private information from you. While Facebook phishing is popular (see below), phishers also target bank sites, credit card sites, email accounts, PayPal, and other social networking sites. They attempt to access many different types of information and phish links can present themselves in many ways. RoboForm would like to share some ways you can identify a phishing website (if your browser is not able to detect it), as well as how to avoid them altogether. From a quick glance, the page below appears to be the Facebook login page. Same design, logo, language options- everything down to the font is exact. However there is one little, yet extremely important difference. Look at the URL. What in the world is flashpuddle.com?
RoboForm’s Safe Identifiers and Tips:
The first thing that RoboForm always recommends is not giving out your email to a website unless you are absolutely sure that it is legitimate. Some phishing links come in the form of a website’s administrative mass emails. We’ll use a Facebook phishing email as an example:
Everything about this seems legitimate, right down to the logo. But with a closer look, it's not actually from Facebook. Major social networking websites and online companies will never ask for sensitive information via e-mail. Facebook states it right here. Next, Facebook email notifications have a personalization feature that includes your name. Phishing emails are general and such as this one only identify you as “Facebook User”. This will be the same with bank or credit card emails. As a final check, hover over the link the email wants you to click to see the URL. Make sure that it has the full website name with no misspellings or additional letters added on. With our Facebook example, Facebook pages have straightforward URLs such as facebook.com/messages or facebook.com/photo and after this part there is an identifier for the message conversation or photo. This is similar for other major companies and social networking sites, so make sure to check links before you click on them! If you are still unsure about the email, open a new browser page and go on to the website directly to see if there’s the same update or offer there- this is the safest way to ensure that the email is legitimate. If you are able to identify this as a phishing email, be sure to mark it as spam in your email.
Another way phishers get through to people is directly on Facebook. You see them as posts or messages that have tempting titles and links to open. Some recent and common ones have been “I cant believe this video”, or, “I got my teeth professionally whitened for 70% off!!” or my personal favorite, “Justin Beiber STABBED By CRAZED Fan Outside N.Y.C. NightClub!”
Don’t get fooled by these offers or posts. The phishing website will appear to log you out of Facebook so you have to put your information in again to view the content, but it’s just another way they collect your information. Facebook directly identifies the link as a ridiculous website. Hover over the link to also identify the website URL. If you can’t identify it's safety, message your Facebook friend who posted it and ask them if it’s legit. If the Facebook friend has been deceived, message them to report the link to Facebook and delete it to prevent it from spreading. Overall, remember to be smart when handling your own information to protect yourself from phishing. The main thing RoboForm wants you to remember is to never send or enter sensitive info over email. Keep it in RoboForm’s protected form manager or SafeNotes, and only enter it on trusted websites. The rest is easy. Stay safe out there!
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