Throughout history, scam artists have used the culture and technology of the day to do their work, and the 21st Century is no different. Today, email is often used, and much of the world’s problem with viruses and identity theft is the result, not of computer or technological issues, but of us actually clicking on something that we should not.

Yesterday, at least two District 21 staff members received a phishing scam email that was more well done than is typical. In spite of this being more professional than most spam, it is still pretty easy to detect that there is nothing to worry about and that the email should simply be deleted. The email is pictured here with some tips for identifying a phishing email below.




Ways to detect a phishing scam…
• What is the actual email address, rather than the name, in the “From:” line?
In this example, which is fairly rare, it is tickets@nwa.com. Normally, it is some form of “mumbo-
jumbo” that changes daily. If it is not from the organization’s actual URL (after the @), it is not real.

• Is there a company logo, a privacy statement, or anything of the kind?
If not, it’s probably not real.

• Watch for inappropriate grammar or use of English
In this example, the “t” in “ticket” is not capitalized. In the last full sentence the word “printer” is written
as “printed”.

• Is it written like a real e-mail given the organization and purpose?
Airline ticket reservation emails do not begin with “Hello!”.

• Finally, if you are really unsure about something, call and talk with an actual
representative of the organization.