I'm still surprised that in this day financial companies are still sending links in emails. I've received a couple recently that are genuine emails (they include personal details that phishers almost certainly wouldn't know) in which the links do go to the actual company's website.
By including personal information - a sort of scurity check - I'm supposed to know to trust this email.
But why are they still doing this? Could it not be possible one day for phishers to steal this information?
By sending links in emails they are conditioning us that it is OK to receive an email and click on a link. If I were them I'd not include a link. OK, saying 'visit our site' and not providing a link might not be as neat and it may be a bit more difficult, but we shouldn't be clicking on links anway.
I guess that the reason that some of these do this is that they can add tracking information to the hyperlink and therefore know which of us has not only read the email, but who has followed a link to their marketing material. They therefore know who is more likely to respond to marketing and can then target more marketing material.
We don't know until we've clicked the link what website it is taking us to and what damage that website could do to us. So regardless of whether the email is genuine or not:
1 - don't click on any link
2 - open an internet session
3 - type in what you know to be the company's website - search for it on Google or look on your recent statement if you are uncertain
Stay safe - don't use links in emails - whether the emails are genuine or not.
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