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A phishing email that fooled me at first glance now has me checking every link twice
The message looked exactly like a normal alert from my streaming service, asking me to confirm my payment details. I almost clicked, but something felt off, so I looked closer at the sender's address and spotted a weird typo. From that day on, I make it a rule to manually type in website addresses instead of clicking links in emails. It adds a few seconds, but it keeps my accounts much safer!
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abbyf796mo ago
Actually, manually typing the URL is still the safer move. Those homograph attacks are rare in the wild because they're hard to set up. The real danger is still just clicking a bad link.
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shane_carter7mo ago
Maybe it's just me, but I've gotten so paranoid from phishing emails that I double-check everything. Manually typing URLs is my new hobby, I guess. Adds a bit of excitement to my day.
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adam1867mo ago
Manually typing URLs can still trip you up if the phishing site uses homograph attacks... like replacing letters with look-alike characters from other alphabets. I've seen fake sites where the 'a' is actually a Cyrillic 'а' that looks identical in most fonts. That paranoia might make you miss other red flags in the email itself, like weird grammar or urgent language.
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cora8137mo ago
Totally see what you mean about homograph attacks. In my experience, those look-alike characters are so tricky that I've almost been fooled. Like @shane_carter mentioned, manually typing URLs is a good habit, but it can still trip you up. I now also pay more attention to the email's tone and grammar, which often gives it away. It's a constant battle to stay vigilant online.
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