In 2020, online scams are more widespread than ever — and scammers are becoming extremely sophisticated in their operations. One very common type of scam is impersonating an individual or a company: phishing. When a business is impersonated, cybercriminals often pretend to be employees of that company and focus on scamming regular or future clients of that corporation.
At this point, you may be wondering how we can prevent phishing on your website. While there is no bulletproof way of preventing phishing entirely, there are many ways you can defend against and minimize your risk of being phished by malicious parties.
What can you do to defend against phishing?
Send out a warning message
The first and the most important thing is to send an official warning message to all your clients and potential clients who gave you their email. The warning message should inform the recipients about the phishing scam related to your company. Explain how cybercriminals work and how they trick clients into paying them.
Only use secure communications
Use your official email and make sure that you have an email service that uses secure email technologies. These technologies may not totally stop criminal attempts, but every little bit helps — they will definitely make your email more secure as your clients will be able to differentiate between legitimate and fake emails.
Educate Your Clients
Have a section on your site where you post educational content that will discuss common types of scams. You can also send out newsletters to your clients and give them useful tips and tricks for achieving security.
No matter how tech-savvy your clients are, they are still human and can make mistakes — so it’s very important to mention that they should always be careful. Remind them not to trust everyone if your company is being impersonated.
Learn About Common Phishing Techniques
Scammers will always find new ways to trick people. Every company needs to stay up-to-date with the latest phishing tricks and, if possible, educate their clients about them.
One very common way of impersonation is typosquatting. To do this, scammers buy domains that are very similar to the name of the company that is being impersonated. The only difference is that there’s a deliberate typo made in the URL. Victims might click on the link and get scammed, believing they are actually on your company’s site.
Final Thoughts
There is no way to completely stop scams and phishing. However, the first step towards minimizing the risk of becoming a victim is being aware and being informed. Pay attention to cybersecurity news, and be aware of the latest incidents so that you know what to expect.
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