You are under Phishing email attack! Beware! You could be hit by debit, credit card fraud! Save yourself, here is how

Amid a rise in the use of gadgets, emails have become an integral part of our life - both personal and professional. However, while using email, we come across e-mails from both known persons and unknown ones. And, it has become our habit to check each and every mail that we receive. So, while going through the e-mail from a stranger, it's very hard to know whether the sender is a hacker. Yes, the e-mail may well be a scammer looking to steal your bank details.  Unfortunately, one generally ends up clicking on links provided in these e-mails. Phishing e-mails can lead to multiple debit card and credit card cloning and looting money from one's bank account. So, it's important for us to save ourselves. But, how? 

Speaking on how to save yourself from fake e-mail or an e-mail which has been sent by a scammer Pawan Duggal, a Delhi-based cyber crime expert said, "Awareness and common sense is your major tool while fishing out the original mail and pseudo mails. It has been found that such fake e-mails have a little bit of urgency to complete the proceedings. For example, if it is an e-mail from a scamster or fraudster, then there will be some short of hurry like if you don't do this today, then there will be huge penalty on you or if you don't fill in this or that form, your bank account, debit and credit card would be blocked etc." This usually makes people fall for the scam and to lose their money.

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Duggal was of the opinion that in such cases of heavy penalty or luring offers that are 'too good to be true', people should not reveal any personal information as such e-mails are generally sent by scamsters. He also pointed out that highly personalised e-mails (like, 'I am a widow with a hefty amount in my bank account and I want to give some of it to you as charity etc.') are also a warning signal.

On how to identify whether an e-mail is from a fraudster Duggal gave the following 3 ways:

1] Urgency of request: If the e-mail has been sent by the fraudsters, they would show some short of urgency or hurry. In such mails, majority of the times the sender would ask the receiver to respond within 24 hours or on the same day. Such mails can be in menacing terms or in luring ways. But, in both cases they would ask for the receiver's personal information like Aadhaar Card, Bank account number, date of birth etc.

2] Highly personalised request: Such e-mails fall under the 419 Nigerian Fraud category. In such mails, online bank frauds are executed sending a highly personalised mails giving highly personal information of the sender with luring offers which are 'too hard to believe.' The scammer plays with the receiver in such  away that if some one has shares his or her personal information, what's wrong in responding at least once.

3] Requesting to click on given link: When a stranger sends an e-mail asking you to click on the given link, it's advisable not to click on that because there can be a malware attack on your system fishing out all personal information save in the memory of the system, including your bank accounts.