{"id":28623,"date":"2025-09-12T10:46:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T18:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/?p=28623"},"modified":"2025-09-12T10:46:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T18:46:44","slug":"everything-to-know-about-phishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/everything-to-know-about-phishing\/","title":{"rendered":"Phishing 101: Your Complete Guide To Phishing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When it comes to modern scams, phishing is undeniably one of the most prevalent. In 2023 alone, researchers found that over 1.76 billion phishing emails<\/a> were sent out worldwide. Much like real fishing, phishing uses links as bait to \u201ccatch\u201d victims, tricking them into giving up sensitive information. These phishing attacks have proven extremely effective, which is why we are here to provide a full guide on everything you need to know about phishing so you can stay safe.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s get into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Phishing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The basic concept of phishing is that scammers pose as a trusted source and provide a fraudulent link via email or text that tries to get victims to click on it under some false pretense. The end goal is to either get malware on victims\u2019 computers or to trick victims into unknowingly giving up valuable private information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Does Phishing Work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Scammers can use a variety of tricks and approaches when it comes to phishing attacks, but in general, this is how a phishing attack works:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Victims receive an email, text, or social media DM (direct message) claiming to be from a trusted source (i.e., the bank, USPS, a government agency, customer support, etc.).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The message will generally have some sort of urgency, requiring the recipient to click an attached link to supposedly address the issue.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Victims who click on the link are taken to a website that resembles the authentic website of the organization that is supposedly contacting them (known as website spoofing).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Victims are then prompted to log in and enter sensitive information in order to resolve the problem they were contacted about (all of which is completely made up, unbeknownst to the victim).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Scammers then have the victim\u2019s login information and other valuable information to fraudulently use or even sell on the dark web.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Phishing attacks are a form of social engineering \u2014 they rely on deception to trick people into revealing private information. This is most often accomplished by sending victims messages with notices that are both urgent and plausible, such as a missed payment, an arrest warrant, a (fake) fraudulent charge notice, or any other message that might cause someone to panic and ignore the red flags pointing to a scam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Types of Phishing Attacks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    While most common phishing attacks are link-based, phishing has sprouted an abundance of offshoots that function slightly differently, but have the same end goal of scamming people of their information or finances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here are a few popular types of phishing attacks: <\/p>\n\n\n\n