If you don’t look closely in the inbox, there will quickly be more and more: phishing mails. We reveal how you can recognize such spam mails in good time and how to properly protect yourself from them. Criminals don’t stand a chance with you anymore.

What are phishing emails?

Phishing emails are fake messages sent by brazen tricksters. These pretend to be trustworthy senders or companies, which in reality they are not. For example, they disguise themselves as supposed banks, online service providers or Internet marketplaces. The aim is to install viruses on the victim’s computer or to obtain private information such as account and log-in data. The spam mails serve as bait, which in the worst case even enables criminals to get your money.

Beware of dubious links: This is how you recognize fake news immediately

At first glance, phishing emails can be recognized by links that are contained in the emails and should be clicked on by the user. These often lead to supposed sweepstakes that you supposedly won. Likewise, scammers in phishing emails often ask you to block your own credit card by entering your bank details for security reasons. Don’t be fooled and be smarter than the scammers! Reputable banks would never send such an email. In a personal conversation with inFranken.de, a major issuer of credit cards confirmed: “We wouldn’t send emails like this. We wouldn’t contact you by email if something like that were actually the case.”

In principle, you should be extremely careful when opening links from an email. It’s best to ignore them to avoid becoming a victim of a scam. If there is actually a serious sender behind the message, they will contact you in some other way. However, if you receive emails that announce you are the winner of raffles, discounts or sweepstakes that you have never entered, this is a sure sign of phishing emails. It is best to delete these immediately and block the sender.

Other features of deceptively real phishing mails

Impersonal salutation: Reputable companies where you are a customer usually always write to you with your name. However, phishing emails often contain impersonal salutations such as “Dear customer” or “Dear Sir or Madam”.
Different sender: The supposedly reputable name of the sender mentioned in the subject line of spam is usually completely different from the email address actually stored. The differences can range from the smallest deviations or transposed digits to completely different names.
Spelling mistakes in the text: Missing umlauts, strange formulations or typos – since fraudulent phishing emails are often created in another language and translated into German by automated programs, these are not uncommon. Conspicuous grammatical errors are also a possible feature of spam mails.
Strange attachments: So-called “click traps” are not only hidden behind links that you should never click, but also in attached attachments. These can be images, for example, often with a cryptic file name. If you open or download these, you run the risk of being forwarded to a criminal website unnoticed in the background.
Acute need for action under time pressure: In phishing mails, scammers usually request a specific action that should be carried out as quickly as possible. For example, you have to reconfirm one of your passwords in the mail, provide personal information, block your credit card or allegedly make pending payments. It is not uncommon for threats to be formulated in order to increase the pressure on the victims. For example, the affected account should be deleted if the requested action is not carried out immediately.
Small differences to the official company: If you look closely, you will see subtle differences in phishing mails compared to the original providers, behind which internet fraudsters want to camouflage themselves. Fake messages often contain a different design and modified details in the name or URL, such as transposed digits or typos.

This is how you protect yourself properly

Basically, it is important to check the sender carefully in order not to fall for fraudulent phishing mails. Likewise, you should not open or download any links or attachments in the message. If you are unsure whether the link mentioned is not serious, you can enter it yourself in the Internet browser and thus check whether it actually exists on the official provider website. Very important: Never copy or directly click on dubious links. In addition, it is generally advisable to install virus software on your own computer. This prevents fraudsters from loading malicious programs onto the computer.

To avoid becoming a victim of possible scams, you should also contact the company on whose behalf the strange emails are being sent. There you can also find out whether the message in your inbox actually came from you – of course before you take the required action. If you enter personal data, this should also only be done in secure networks, not via free WLAN access in public places.

That’s behind it: That’s why you receive spam mails

Countless fake e-mails are circulating on the Internet every day. But why do you get such messages at all? The all clear first: You were not hacked. Phishing mails are “actually” normal. As a rule, online platforms require you to enter your e-mail when registering. However, if the operators of the website are hacked themselves, criminals get their hands on the e-mail addresses of all registered customers. This actually happens more often than you think. Scammers hack what they can. Because large data sets are worth a lot. In 2018, the site “Myfitnesspal” was cracked by hackers. According to Spiegel.de, around 150 million pieces of personal data were stolen.

Datasets in the form of millions of emails are then resold to companies. They end up bombarding you with phishing emails – hoping that as many users as possible will fall for their scam. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, an email address is worth an average of EUR 0.75 – this makes it easy to calculate what kind of business will be done if criminals have your data.

Have you already been a victim of phishing scams?

In principle, spam mails are always a fraudulent scam to get your money or to load malicious software onto your computer. Whether you will receive more or fewer phishing mails is individual and cannot be predicted across the board. In most cases, however, hackers do not only get hold of your data once. There is a helpful tool to check whether these have already fallen into the hands of Internet scammers. On the Have I Been Pwned website you can enter your email or phone number and find out if you have already been the victim of a hacker attack. Because the system automatically checks all websites on which you are registered with the respective data for security. The use of this internet service is free of charge.

But what can you do if your data has actually been found by hackers? Quite simply: Create a new mail – it may be very tedious with all the different online platforms, but it promises peace from dubious phishing mails. At least until the next hacker attack.

SOS tips for victims of spam mails

If, despite all precautionary measures, you have become the victim of a phishing e-mail, you must act quickly and correctly. You should immediately contact the official company on whose behalf the scammers obtained your information. The respective provider can then block your account. You should also recreate affected usernames and passwords. If you have also saved the hacked password in a password manager, you should also change all the login data stored there.