There are many phishing sites on the web that appear very real, and are very dangerous…especially to people who don’t understand how links and site URLs (addressing) works. Lately they seem to be duplicating news sites. I had 3 in my inbox today, one duplicating FOX NEWS, one Duplicating PEOPLE MAGAZINE, and another one. If you go to the sites, always check the address in the address bar. It will become quite clear you are not on the real site, if you please just open your eyes and look. This is very important. After looking at the following example of a fake Fox News website, pretend you got an email claiming to be from your bank. You click the link. You get to the website, and IT LOOKS JUST LIKE YOUR BANK’S WEBSITE because they have copied all the images and text verbatim. What is the very next thing you do? Well you try to log in of course. (and then find out you can not) …what you JUST DID, is you gave your bank account login credentials to the fake phishing site, and probably didn’t even realize you did it. That’s how it works. That’s why it’s so important you understand how this works.
So here is the example…here is something that came in an email, and I clicked the link for you…it really appears to be from Fox News website, doesn’t it? They often copy all the images, they create all the menus and everything to look EXACTLY like the real site, but IT IS NOT THE REAL SITE. (and it’s very easy to do, believe me. These are EVERYWHERE now.)
But if you look at it closely, in the address bar, you will see that it is NOT from Fox News, it’s from https://consumersguidedfinancial.com/ which is a phishing/marketing site, only designed to get your money, NOT give you news. if you aren’t sure where to look for the web address, look at this example, I circled it for you….
Note that you don’t need to read the entire address/URL. You only need to see the part that identifies the site, the part before the .com/.net/.org/.info/.mobi/.co/.website/.us/…or whatever top level domain URL is in use for the site. The rest of the stuff after that just identifies folders and files inside the directory structure on the server hosting the site, and has no use in this scenario.
Now HERE is a clip from the REAL Fox News website:
Quite a bit different, isn’t it? The header, the social network sharing links, even the top article is more like “real” news…from a reputable company. The key is that if something seems a little “off” it always warrants a deeper look. And the test? Of course! The address bar! Here is the real one from the URL foxnews.com :
So be careful out there. Informed is safer. There are predators out there waiting to prey on your lack of knowledge, understanding, and information. So be informed. If you have questions, find someone you trust, and ask them. You can always post questions on the Everything I.T. Facebook page, and I will gladly answer them. It’s my goal to help you stay safe. Eventually there will be discussion forum here where you can ask, but for now, go to Facebook please. Everything I.T. on Facebook (if you aren’t already reading this on Facebook, as posts go there also)
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