N awdays our cyber world is getting more complex and more threats are coming in many ways. The reason, I intend to write this article is to help people to increase their knowledge about cyber crimes and all things which can be happened to them. Recently, one of my friend called me and asked me to take a look about a money request from UPS company which was weird. I told her, it is fake and ignore it but she insisted and send me some screenshot to get my idea and make sure about the case. after checking, I returned him back my previous judgment which this request is scam. So, what is scam and phishing? what is the difference.

Actually, phishing is a type of scam which happens online and try to steal the information specially your bank account and get the money from you. And, scam is a method to get the information from you or money trough any channel. It can be done trough SMS, email, verbal communication, Instagram, whats app and other ways.

Scammer does not care about who you are ( a mother , investor, manager, a simple worker). They only need your information and money.
– Farhad Safiri

In recent years, more actions and awareness are done by governments and big companies. But, in my opinion is not enough to inform all society about the side effect of these crimes. But, as a IT company who involve in cybersecurity too, some hints and way will be declared in order to avoid scams. let’s start …

How to identify scam message ?

actually, for answering to above question, many factors must be considered. but the most and important factor is the type of scam or phishing. Is it complex or simple. In most cases, simple message is sent to victim because the message is sent in numbers and to many people. So, scammer does not put more effort to make a complex scam. But, how can we detect it ? follow next bullets to get an answer.

1 – Scammers use big names. what does it mean?

They use the government departments and companies in their message to encourage victim to read the message and use the link the get in a trap same as DU,Etisalat,DEWA,Emirates Post, Banks. In this case, you should know any big company or government department use their short code in SMS. the Sender is DEWA or Dubai Police or DU and it must not be a number in sender of message. these short codes are bought and approved by authorities so no can forgery it.

2 – Scammers ask you money in email, SMS, Instagram, Whats App or another social app in advance for a service which not requested or not informed. do not open any link until you verify the validity of link and payment gateway. consulate to your friends or cybersecurity consular.

3 – They use unusual payment method such as gift card, cryptocurrency, western union and other method which is not usual for payment.

4 – check the email address sender and compare with the website name of sender. if email comes from UPS, the domain must be same as below [email protected]. info is an email for ups and related to UPS company therefore valid address.

In next article, I will explain a sample of scam and dig it in details for all. I hope this article is useful for all of you and do not get in trap of scammers.