Hey everyone. Flint here to talk about phishing, and as it relates to Animal Jam.
(I know there's an old post from 2017 talking about this, but I'd like to make it an updated Agent Insights, so everyone can find it easier.)
Phishing is when scammers pretend to be legitimate people/websites/companies/whatnot in order to fool people into giving them personal information like passwords or credit card numbers.
The most common example is getting an email/text claiming to be from a company you do business with (e.g. Netflix, Apple, etc). Said email/text will say that they have detected suspicious activity on your account/hackers have tried to log into your account. They will then give a link to a place where you can supposedly do something to stop hackers getting into your account, involving entering your password/personal info.
Phishing is a scam. Any links they provide will go to scam sites that will steal your info/give you viruses. However, the point is to look legitimate, so that you trust them enough to enter your info. There's actually a good image that AJHQ provided a while ago, in response to scammers pretending to be AJHQ. It shows the signs of a fake email from scammers.
Note the following, in case you can't see the image.
- The email is not the official email of AJHQ. The official one is support@animaljam.com.
- Animal Jam will never ask for your password over email. Clickable links are only sent from the actual Animal Jam site.
- Spelling errors, or any errors in punctuation, grammar, etc.
And, some tips for spotting phishing emails in general.
- Spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors
- Generic, non-personalized greeting. Animal Jam might send you links with Animal Jam Parent, but most sites will address you by your name or username.
- Links that redirect to weird places. If you hover your mouse over a link, and it does not go to a place you'd expect it to go (e.g. instead of animaljam.com, it goes to bit.ly/838383838383.)
- Panicky language, such as demanding you reset your password now, you need to click this link or you will be hacked, etc. If it makes you feel panicked, there's a reason for that.
- Wrong email addresses. If the address doesn't make sense or it contains errors, it's fake.
Basically, to avoid these, never click on links from emails unless you were expecting the email. If you are concerned, go to a new tab and pull up the site independently, then reset the password or whatever you think needs doing.
That's all, folks. Bye!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comment must be approved by a staff member before it will show up on the blog. Please do NOT post your comment multiple times.
We will not entertain any comments that are posted with malicious intent. In that sense, we will not remove any post on a scammer until we have solid evidence showing that the scammer in question did not actually scam. If your comment is asking for a post to be taken down or implies that any posted scammer wasn't scamming, it likely won't be published.
Please only comment if you have something of value to contribute. Comments that are pointless or just plain incomprehensible will be marked as spam. If you have a question, please check our FAQ before asking.