Protect yourself from phishing scams
Phishing scams are on the rise. It’s important that we’re cautious when it comes to digital security — and to remain aware of potential phishing scams, their warning signs and what to do if we get caught in one.
What is phishing?
Phishing is a form of fraud in which a scammer tries to get you to reveal personal, financial or confidential information by pretending to be a reputable entity through electronic communication. A phishing attempt tries to entice you to open an attachment or click a link to a site that appears legitimate. Even if the request looks genuine, be skeptical.
Here are some warning signs of a phishing attempt:
- The message is unsolicited and asks you to update, confirm or reveal personal information (e.g., full Social Security numbers, account numbers, NetID, passwords, protected health information).
- The message creates a sense of urgency.
- The message has an unusual “from” address or an unusual “reply-to” address; it may also come from a compromised “@wisc.edu” address.
- The message may not be personalized. Valid messages from banks and other legitimate sources usually refer to you by name.
- There may be grammatical errors.
How to report a phishing attempt?
Outlook users:
To report phishing emails received via Outlook, click the “Report Suspicious” button on the toolbar/ribbon located within your email app. This action will send the questionable email to our security team for review.
Non-Outlook users:
If you are using any non-Microsoft email client (eg, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Android/iOS native mail, etc.), you will not see the “Report Suspicious” action button. However, it is still possible to report the message as spam/phishing by forwarding it to report-spam@doit.wisc.edu.
What else?
For additional information on how to avoid phishing, smishing or other forms of scams, check out the following articles: