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Whats Phishing? Do you know? Top five tips for spotting a phishing site

Most UK web users are at risk from online fraud, with many unable to spot common tell-tale signs of phishing, a YouGov survey has revealed.
Of more than 2,000 UK adults asked to compare two sites, 88% failed to spot the spelling mistakes that would have identified the phishing site.
Fifty-seven per cent did not notice that the phishing site did not have a padlock symbol in the browser address bar, 34% missed that the URL contained an unspecified domain name, and 23% were duped by a request for additional account information.
How to spot a phishing site.

  1. https:// The "s" in https:// means the site is encrypted, so the information you enter is secured. While some phishing sites do have a secured web address, many do not. Therefore, site visitors should be on the lookout for missing security on sites that should have it.
  2. The padlock icon: To be meaningful this icon must appear in the actual browser interface and not inside the content of the page itself.
  3. Trust marks: Simple visual cues in the form of popular logos can show that a website is authenticated, secured, and the company is reputable.
  4. Check the web address: Be suspicious of any site with an unknown domain that contains the name of a well known site in the latter part of the Web address.
  5. Green address bar: This signifies that this site has undergone extensive identity authentication so that you can be confident it is the site it claims to be.