{"id":168822,"date":"2025-03-27T04:43:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T11:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/?p=168822"},"modified":"2025-03-27T09:22:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T16:22:59","slug":"plenty-of-phish-in-the-sea-your-guide-to-spotting-phishing-emails-and-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/privacy-identity-protection\/plenty-of-phish-in-the-sea-your-guide-to-spotting-phishing-emails-and-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Spot Phishing Emails and Scams"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are plenty of phish in the sea.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Millions of bogus phishing emails land in millions of inboxes each day with one purpose in mind\u2014to rip off the recipient. Whether they\u2019re out to crack your bank account, steal personal information, or both, you can learn how to spot phishing emails and keep yourself safe.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And some of today\u2019s phishing emails are indeed getting tougher to spot.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They seem like they come from companies you know and trust, like your bank, your credit card company, or services like Netflix, PayPal, and Amazon. And some of them look convincing. The writing and the layout are crisp, and the overall presentation looks professional. Yet still, there\u2019s still something <\/span>off <\/span><\/i>about them.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And there\u2019s certainly something wrong with that email. It was written by a scammer. Phishing emails employ a bait-and-hook tactic, where an urgent or enticing message is the bait and malware or a link to a phony login page is the hook.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Once the hook gets set, several things might happen. That phony login page may steal account and personal information. Or that malware might install keylogging software that steals information, viruses that open a back door through which data can get hijacked, or ransomware that holds a device and its data hostage until a fee is paid.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, you can sidestep these attacks if you know how to spot them. There are signs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at how prolific these attacks are, pick apart a few examples, and then break down the things you should look for.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Phishing attack statistics\u2014the millions of attempts made each year.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

In the U.S. alone, <\/span>more than 300,000 victims reported a phishing attack to the FBI<\/span><\/a> in 2022. Phishing attacks topped the list of reported complaints, roughly six times greater than the second top offender, personal data breaches. The actual figure is undoubtedly higher, given that not all attacks get reported.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking at phishing attacks worldwide, <\/span>one study<\/span><\/a> suggests that more than 255 million phishing attempts were made in the second half of 2022 alone. That marks a 61% increase over the previous year. <\/span>Another study<\/span><\/a> concluded that 1 in every 99 mails sent contained a phishing attack.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet scammers <\/span>won’t<\/span> always cast such a wide net. Statistics point to a rise in targeted spear phishing, where the attacker goes after a specific person. They will often target people at businesses who have the authority to transfer funds or make payments. Other targets include people who have access to sensitive information like passwords, proprietary data, and account information.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As such, the price of these attacks can get costly. In 2022, the FBI received 21,832 complaints from businesses that said they fell victim to a spear phishing attack. The adjusted losses were over $2.7 billion\u2014an average cost of $123,671 per attack.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So while exacting phishing attack statistics remain somewhat elusive, there\u2019s no question that phishing attacks are prolific. And costly.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What does a phishing attack look like?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Nearly every phishing attack sends an urgent message. One designed to get you to act.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some examples \u2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n