Is this email real?
How to tell a fake email from a real one in under a minute, and what to do with it when you are not sure.
You do not have to be certain. If an email makes you pause, that pause is the signal, and checking takes less time than the worry.
Do this first: stop and look
- Do not click anything in it yet. Not the link, not the attachment, not Unsubscribe, not Reply. Nothing in the message needs to be touched to check it.
- Look at who it is really from. On a computer, hover over or click the sender's name and the full address appears. On a phone, tap the name. A message from "Microsoft" sent from a random address is not from Microsoft, and a coworker's name on an address you have never seen is not your coworker. The right address is not proof either: if a coworker's or supplier's account has been broken into, the fake arrives from their real address, so judge what it asks for, not just who sent it.
- Ask what it wants you to do, and how fast. Pay this now, sign in here, confirm your password, buy gift cards, your account closes today. Pressure is the tell. Real companies and real colleagues rarely need something in the next ten minutes.
- Check it another way. If it claims to be your bank, your boss, or a supplier, call them on a number you already have, or open their website by typing the address yourself. Never use the phone number or the link inside the email.
The ones to treat as fake until proven otherwise. An invoice or attachment you were not expecting. Anything asking for a password or a sign-in code. A request to change bank or payment details. Gift cards for any reason. A link whose address does not match the company it claims to be.
If you are not sure
Tell Michael. Take a photo of it with your phone and text it to 701.306.0188. A photo helps me see what you received. No phone handy? Use Send a message below and describe what the email says and who it claims to be from.
Please do not forward the email. Forwarding sends the dangerous part along with it. If your workplace has an approved phishing report button, use that; it sends the message to the right place without anyone opening it. Report buttons differ from one office to the next, so if you are not sure which one is yours, the photo is enough.
If you already clicked or replied
Stop there and tell us. Nobody gets judged for clicking something, and the sooner we know, the smaller it stays.
- If you typed a password or a sign-in code on the page it opened, say so first. We change it with you right away.
- If it opened a file or asked you to install something, stop using that computer and reach us from your phone.
- If money moved or payment details were changed, call your bank before anything else. Something feels wrong: what to do first walks through the rest.
Worth knowing. The monthly security lesson at wetravelpc.com/aware uses real attempts from around the area, with names removed. Ten minutes a month is most of what it takes to spot these on your own.
Did this not sort it out?
Tell us about these even if you did not click: anything asking to change where a payment goes, anything pretending to be a coworker or the boss, and any invoice you were not expecting. Those are aimed at your business, and knowing about them lets us warn the rest of the office.
Tell Michael which step you got to and what the screen says. A photo of the screen from your phone is perfect.