# How to tell it's phishing.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-its-phishing/466038>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 1, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-its-phishing/466038 "2008-10-01T18:37:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-its-phishing/466038/1 "2008-10-01T18:37:46Z")

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1. It was sent by a “team.” “Mail account team.” “Google team.”
2. It’s from you bank, but you never gave them your e-mail address.

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-its-phishing/466038/2 "2008-10-01T18:41:41Z")

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1. If it’s addressed to “customer” and it’s from a bank you don’t have an account with.
2. If it’s from the “Internet police” claiming that you are going to lose your connection due to surfing porn. True, that.

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**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-its-phishing/466038/3 "2008-10-01T18:43:09Z")

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Put the mouse pointer over the link and look really closely at the URL. It might look something like “[http://yourbankURL.123456789.com/registration](http://yourbankURL.123456789.com/registration)”. If your browser doesn’t show it, it’s most likely a faker.

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**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-its-phishing/466038/4 "2008-10-01T20:08:25Z")

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1. The email came from [yourbank@gmail.com](mailto:yourbank@gmail.com) or [yourISP@yahoo.com](mailto:yourISP@yahoo.com)
2. The logo is pixelated from being resized incorrectly
3. They sign off with “God Bless”