{"id":9479,"date":"2019-07-09T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2019-07-09T07:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my-life.lu\/?p=9479\/"},"modified":"2025-02-25T16:00:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T15:00:51","slug":"how-to-avoid-phishing-scams-50023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my-life.lu\/en\/how-to-avoid-phishing-scams-50023\/","title":{"rendered":"How to avoid phishing scams"},"content":{"rendered":"

With banks offering more and more online services, fraud and scam attempts are also evolving and going digital. One kind that is becoming increasingly prevalent in Luxembourg is phishing. In this article, myLIFE shows you how to recognise phishing and protect yourself from these attacks.<\/p>\n

What is phishing?<\/h2>\n

The term \u201cphishing\u201d is a neologism that was created by combining \u201cfishing\u201d and \u201cphreaking\u201d (telephone hacking). It\u2019s a form of fraud that aims to collect personal and confidential data to use for personal gain. The fraudster poses as a trusted organisation or person, prompting you to respond in such a way as to allow them to steal your personal data. And, unfortunately, bank clients are all too often the victims of these attacks.<\/p>\n

Phishing exploits human weaknesses such as empathy, fear, enthusiasm or simply a lack of attention. It often comes in the form of an email, but can also be conducted through SMS (\u201csmishing\u201d) or a phone call (\u201cvishing\u201d).<\/p>\n

Messages may contain a link to a website that looks identical to that of the organisation the fraudster claims to represent. These are mostly banking websites, social networks or online payment platforms. By clicking on the link, the user is invited to enter their login details, fill in a form or sign up to a service. Meanwhile, the attacker retrieves the information entered to use for their own purposes.<\/p>\n

In other cases, the message claims to be urgent and the attacker tries to get you to send confidential documents or information. Phishing attempts are often very convincing, and can consist of several messages sent over several weeks.<\/p>\n

One of the most common assumptions is that phishing is easy to recognise. In reality it can be extremely sophisticated and conducted through multiple different channels.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How to recognise phishing<\/h2>\n

One of the most common assumptions is that phishing is easy to recognise. In reality it can be extremely sophisticated and conducted through multiple different channels. However, if you pay attention, there are a few red flags you can watch out for.<\/p>\n