The Web Page Spoofing Scam
Web page spoofing has become a popular scam over the past few years and usually works in conjunction with phishing scams. Basically, spoofing scams consist of a website that appears just like the original, but it is actually a fake site set up by hackers. Often a consumer will receive emails from companies that they currently deal with asking them to click on a link. These links are automatically programmed to take them to these spoofing sites. This, in turn becomes a phishing scam.
How to Identify Spoofing Sites
Though these hoax sites will appear just like the original, there are ways to tell you are not visiting the actual site. Some of those ways can be:
- Grammatical Errors – Often these sites are set up quickly; therefore these cyber criminals do not have the time to check their site for errors. Look for any grammatical errors on the site or misspelled words.
- Secured Web Site – A spoofing website will never be secured. If you are trying to visit your financial institution’s website or another site, always look for the signs that it is secured. This can include the locked padlock symbol or the web address starting with “https”.
- Suspicious Emails – As stated before, spoofing scams will usually associated with phishing scams. Therefore you will often receive a suspicious email instructing you to click on a link and log-in to your account. Never click on links in an email. If you receive an email stating to click on a link, always type the web address into your web browser manually and verify whether or not the email was actually from the company requesting your information.
- Web Addresses – Most spoofing sites will have long web addresses. For example, when visiting Bank of America you will type https://www.bankofamerica.com, but when you are visiting a spoofing site you will typically see a long web address that does not end with “.com” or “.org”.