How Do I Identify Spam/Phishing Scams?
Phishing scams will claim to be an organization you normally deal with, such as a bank, government agency or even Fordham University. The message will typically ask you to "update", "confirm" or "validate" you account information via a URL. This URL will appear to be legitimate, but is in fact bogus.
The following tips are ways to identify Spam/Phishing scams:
Fordham University will NEVER ask you for personally identifiable information (PII) such as bank accounts, social security or credit card numbers, usernames, password, full name and/or date of birth.
Watch out for phone numbers in email. They could be fake and you may be talking to a thief. To be safe, use the phone numbers listed on your financial statements and/or the back of your credit card.
Most e-mails from organizations will be addressed to you if it is requesting personal information. Although this is not always the case, be aware of e-mails that are very generic and not specific to you. eg. Dear Trusted Chase Customer
Most organizations use secure connections when it comes to entering personal information so always look out for web sites starting with HTTPS:// The 'S' stands for secure where HTTP:// is not a secure connection.
Always hover your mouse over the web links to view the actual URL you would be connecting to. The link would be listed in the status bar in the bottom your browser or e-mail. To be safe, manually enter the URL of a trusted site yourself in a new browser window. eg. The link may want to send you to www.chase1.com when you should manually enter www.chase.com.
Be aware of any e-mails from Fordham University and/or organizations asking you to open file attachments as most information is readily available on their website.
Be skeptical about any and all information in an unsolicited e-mail.
Avoid opening e-mails with suspicious subject titles or from e-mail addresses you do not recognize.
Want to Test Your Knowledge on Spam and Phishing Scams? Test your knowledge by taking any of the following quizzes:
