5 Common Types Of Phishing Attacks To Watch Out For—#2 Tricks You Into Transferring Money!
February 14, 2025 by Lisa Cupido
Phishing is so common these days that you might not realize you’re receiving these types of suspicious emails and texts daily or weekly. The manipulative tactic involves someone getting ahold of your email or phone number, which isn’t difficult to do, and sending you catchy messages to try and get your attention. Before you know what’s happening, the sender has lured you to click on a link or provide some kind of personal information that can then lead to your phone becoming infected with malware or spyware, your personal information stolen, or both.
If this sounds like a huge headache, it is. But there are ways to protect yourself from phishing, and all of them start with knowing and understanding some of the most common messages you’re likely to receive. Not responding to these messages, deleting them, and reporting them is the wisest move you can make to protect your data. Here are five common types of phishing attacks to keep on your radar.
1. Email Phishing
Email phishing is what it sounds like: receiving an email that looks completely legit (until you examine it at length) and pretends to require your immediate attention. These emails look as if they are coming from legitimate organizations, such as banks and credit card companies. They feature fake domains, but if you look closer you’ll see something is misspelled or otherwise off in the domain name. They’ll try and get you to click on a link to a malicious website, download an infected file, or just provide as much personal information as possible.
2. Spear Phishing
Spear phishing is super scary because the sender who has sent an email already knows basic information about you such as your name, where you work, the names of your colleagues or family members, and more. Receiving this more personal email may trick you into thinking the sender is legit, but practice the same scrutiny as you would any email and look closely at the domain name.
Cybercriminals often pose as trusted individuals—such as a boss, coworker, or vendor—to deceive victims into transferring money, sharing sensitive financial information, or even revealing login credentials.
Never click on links or download files sent to you in an email unless you are 100 percent sure the sender can be trusted.
3. Whaling
This one is different from phishing because the sender is trying to lure a mammoth — a person in a high position who has a lot to lose. Whaling attacks target people working in senior management positions who have more sensitive information about their companies. They likely won’t include links or files to download, but will rely on more personalized tactics that convince the recipient they are legitimate and can be trusted.
4. Smishing and Vishing
Hackers know we may not be sitting by our laptops all day, but we all have phones in our hands and it’s easier to attack us via text messaging. Smishing and Vishing involves sending text messages or automated phone calls that make it seem like our data is being threatened. The senders then attempt to gain personal information from us so that they can “solve the problem.” Never provide anyone personal information over a text or a robocall.
5. Angler Phishing
So many of us have at least one social media account, so naturally malicious hackers will try to gain information from us via those accounts. Angler phishing is when fake social media accounts posing as legitimate and well-known businesses respond to someone’s online complaint about them and request additional personal information so that they can solve the issue and make the customer happy. Of course, the company account is not real and will only result in hackers gaining info about you that they can then use against you. To avoid this scam, contact a company directly if you have a complaint instead of posting it on social media.