How can you tell that an e-mail is phishing?

Look less at spelling mistakes, which modern phishing rarely has, and more at what the message asks you to do. Warning signs: pressure to act now, a request to log in, pay, change bank details or open an unexpected file, a sender address that differs slightly from the real one, a reply-to address that goes somewhere else, and a link whose real destination, shown when you hover over it, does not match the company it claims to be. A message from a known colleague can still be phishing if their mailbox was taken over, so an unusual request is a reason to check through another channel, such as a phone call to a number you already have. If in doubt, do not click: report the message to IT and let them look. Reporting a false alarm costs a minute; ignoring a real one can cost far more.

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