Episode 141: Protect Yourself from Phishing Scams: Tips for Better Financial Health

Ever wondered how a seemingly innocent email could wreak havoc on your digital life? In our latest episode of Better Financial Health in 15 minutes or less, discover the hidden dangers of phishing emails and how they can turn your trusted inbox into a cyber minefield. Stacey Hyde breaks down the mechanics of these deceptive messages, explaining how they masquerade as emails from familiar names like Best Buy and Symantec, only to compromise your data once clicked. Learn essential tips to safeguard yourself, such as revealing the true sender information and maintaining up-to-date security measures on your devices.

 Stacey highlights the serious repercussions of falling for a phishing scam, including financial loss and the struggle to regain control of compromised accounts. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to fortify their online security. Equip yourself with actionable advice to avoid becoming a victim and ensure your digital safety. Your online well-being is too important to ignore, and this episode arms you with the knowledge to protect it effectively. Tune in and be prepared to change the way you handle your emails forever.

Envision Financial Planning. 5100 Poplar Avenue, Suite 2428, Memphis TN 38137. (901) 422-7526, This communication is strictly intended for individuals residing in the United States. Advisory Services offered through Envision Financial Planning, a Registered Investment Adviser.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi, this is Stacey Hyde, and I'm back for another episode of Better Financial Health in 15 minutes or less, and today I would like to talk about something that is really, I think, important and maybe under-emphasized. When we talk about keeping ourselves safe online, there's a lot of talk about secure passwords and that sort of thing, but the number one way that most viruses are spread is what's called a phishing email. Now, this is not like you're going to the lake and you're going to catch some fish, but it really kind of works the same way. Phishing it's spelled P-H-I-S-H-I-N-G, and so what they're trying to do is they're sending an email that often looks like another email. For example, it can look like it's from Best Buy or Symantec, which is a security firm, and it's sending it to you and used to could look at them. It was really pretty easy to tell that that wasn't a real email. Or it can say that you've won an award all kinds of things along that line to try to get you to click on it, and when you do, generally it will put something on your computer or your device that will allow it to capture and see what your passwords are or different things you're sending.

Speaker 1: 1:31

And in worst case scenarios, particularly in corporate systems, it can wind its way and it kind of acts like a worm, winding its way into different areas of the server. That's how governments and bad actors steal data from companies and individuals is they get into those. If you think back to the hack on the Democratic National Convention or National Committee, the way they got into those emails and got a lot of their data was through a phishing email. So they sent it, somebody clicked on it and then it started spreading out through the rest of the network. So when you receive an email that you're not sure about, don't click on it. A quick way to tell if it's really sent from the person that it looks like it's sent from is don't just look at what the to box says. If you right click on the person that sent it to you, it will show you what the real email address is, not the display, as, because most of the time if they're a sophisticated actor, they're going to have a display name that looks like it's from amazon or looks like it's from best buy. But if you right click, it'll be some weird email that you're like oh no. And if you see that, just delete it immediately. Don't forward it to anybody, don't do anything but delete it, and that's really, really important to make sure that you're not getting these things on your devices. It's also a good reason to make sure that you have up-to-date security on your devices. Most of the time it that is security that you will have to pay for. Now, if it's your work computer, your employer is likely providing that and doing some work there. But even on your personal devices, it's important to keep that security process, those updates. Also, if you are using Windows, run those Windows updates, because they patch those security holes that Windows becomes aware of. And you want to make sure that you're not making it any easier for the hackers.

Speaker 1: 3:58

Because, for example, in my own family I had a family member that got an email that looked like it was from Best Buy talking about his McAfee virus. Well, he knew he'd been given a computer for Christmas a couple of years ago and purchased virus software. So he thought it was legit and he actually paid, clicked on it and then submitted a payment. Well, when he did that, they put this virus on his computer. It allowed them to assume control of his email. He had to get all new credit cards and really get lost access to his emails, so they couldn't get any more emails because they went in and changed their passwords. So you really want to be super, super careful and very suspicious about these types of emails If you're not 100% sure and sometimes even if you are, if they're asking you to click and update something, make sure that you were expecting it, make sure you know I have an email address that I use for my main stuff, you know, non-work related.

Speaker 1: 5:13

And then basically, I have this other email that I give out when I want to get to something. But the price of admission is an email address and so I give them that. And so if I get an email to that sort of junk email address asking telling me my Amazon account is messed up or something else messed up, I know it's spam because that's not the account mine's related to. Now, if I get one to my primary email, I have to do a little more due diligence, but I usually know what, what I've ordered, what I'm expecting, and if it's something I'm not, I just delete it.

Speaker 1: 5:52

Because you have to be so careful and so skeptical? Because the bad actors are getting smarter. It used to be super easy to see these, but now they've gotten better, and so you have to be more diligent. So be careful out there and make sure that you right click on that sender's name and make sure that it is who you think it is before you do anything. Or if you're in doubt, if it looks like it's from your credit card company but you're not sure, don't click the email. Just go to their website, go to chase, go to city, go to Capital One and log in that way and see if there's a message for you, if there's something you need to do. That's a very easy way to avoid being scammed. So be careful out there. And this has been another episode of Better Financial Health in 15 minutes or less.