How to Spot a Phishing Email Scam

Phishing email attacks continue to be one of the most common and dangerous threats to businesses, especially small and mid-sized companies in the Tampa Bay area. With just one careless click, a single employee can expose your network to ransomware, credential theft, or financial fraud.

At A Better Choice Network Solutions, we help business owners recognize and block these threats before they become costly disasters. Here’s what you need to know to protect your organization.

What Is Phishing?

In cyber security, the term “phishing” refers to a particular kind of scam.

The Best Defense: Awareness and Training

The best protection against phishing is user awareness. Even a little healthy skepticism about emails is a good thing. Train your team to recognize the signs—and slow down before clicking.

Rule 1: Financial Topics Should Trigger a Stop and Review

Train your employees to stop and review all emails that involve banks, invoices, payments, and purchases.

Scammers use popular bank and company names and logos in their emails; they hope some number of recipients will have recent transactions with those popular companies, and some of those recipients will click links and documents without thinking about it.

All links and documents in these emails should be double checked before clicking.

Better: Don’t Click, Log In Directly on Websites

Not clicking is a very good habit, even when a financial message looks legit. Instead, log in directly on the sender’s website to confirm the message.

Common Signs of a Phishing Email

Here are some other signs of scam emails.

1. Generic Greetings
   • Messages that begin with “Dear Customer” or “Dear User” instead of a real name.
2. Urgency or Threatening Language
   • Emails warning of account closures, payment failures, or security alerts to prompt hasty action.
3. Suspicious Links or Attachments
   • Links that don’t match the company’s actual domain.
   • Attachments you weren’t expecting-especially PDF’s or ZIP Files.
4. Odd or Misspelled Sender Addresses
   • Look out for slight variations in email addresses that mimic legitimate domains.
5. Poor Grammar or Spelling Errors
   • Many phishing emails are poorly written and full of typos. AI has made some of them harder to spot.
6. Financial Requests
   • Any email related to invoices, purchases, payments, or banking should trigger an immediate review.

Use the SLAM Method to Detect Phishing

Teach your team to SLAM every suspicious email:

• Sender:
  Do you recognize the sender? Is the email address legitimate?
• Links:
  Hover over links to verify their true destination before clicking.
• Attachments:
  Never open unexpected attachments.
• Message:
  Does the tone, request, or urgency seem abnormal?

What to Do If You Suspect Phishing

• Do not click on any links or open attachments.
• Report the email to your IT department or MSP.
• Delete the email if you’ve confirmed it’s fraudulent.
• Educate employees to stay vigilant through regular cybersecurity training.

And, of course, call A Better Choice Network Solutions for support, training, and cybersecurity software for computers, phones, and your entire network.