{"id":15880,"date":"2012-05-04T04:39:09","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T11:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.mcafee.com\/?p=15880"},"modified":"2025-08-11T23:59:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T06:59:54","slug":"mobile-and-phishing-why-its-more-dangerous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/mobile-security\/mobile-and-phishing-why-its-more-dangerous\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile and Phishing \u2013 Why It\u2019s More Dangerous"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phishing occurs when scammers send emails that appear to have been sent by legitimate, trusted organizations in order to lure recipients into clicking links and entering login data and other credentials. SMiShing<\/a> is a version of phishing in which scammers send text messages rather than emails, which, as with phishing emails, appear to have been sent by a legitimate, trusted organization. The terms reference a scammers\u2019 strategy of fishing for personal information.<\/p>\n

For instance, you could receive an email or text message from someone posing as your credit card company, asking you to confirm your account numbers or passwords. \u00a0It\u2019s much easier to fall for these tricks on your mobile device because a lot of the things you can do to check if an email is legitimate are not available.<\/p>\n

For instance, because of the limited screen space on your mobile device, you probably can\u2019t see a site’s full web address, or an email sender’s full return address. Without being able to see a full address, it’s difficult to tell if the website or sender is legitimate. You also can\u2019t \u201chover over\u201d a link like you can from your computer and get a preview of a linked word or graphic.<\/p>\n

Another factor is the \u201calways on\u201d nature of mobile devices. Most mobile users are more likely to immediately read their email messages and forget to apply their security practices, such as checking to see if an email is from someone they know and if any included links appear real. Because messages are checked continuously, you are more likely to encounter phishing attacks within the first few hours of launch, before security filters have a chance to mitigate the threat.<\/p>\n

If you do click on a dangerous search result or stumble upon a malicious webpage, you could wind up accidentally downloading malware onto your phone, or simply run into inappropriate content.<\/p>\n

Tips to Protect Yourself from Mobile Phishing<\/h2>\n

To protect yourself from a mobile phishing scam, you should:<\/p>\n