🚨Phishing Alarm: my experience🚨 

Phishing is an increasing problem in our digital world. And although I thought, that won't happen to me, this morning I fell prey to a phishing attack myself and the consequences were slightly stressful. In this blog I share my experience, what I have learned and how you can protect yourself against online fraud.

Fiverr is a site where you can register as a freelancer and offer services. I'm really new to this, so I'm not familiar with everything yet. I had received an email for an assignment and apparently I had not delved enough into exactly how that worked. I also hadn't entered any payment details yet. So when I had to do that to take the job and collect the money, it only seemed logical. In retrospect, it's stupid, because I didn't check the link in advance and didn't read it carefully enough. Otherwise I would have known that it would not be done via email, but only after the order had been delivered via the system.

Anyway, it really seemed like you were in the Fiverr system, so I entered my credit card details. When the spinner of payment platform Stripe kept running, I initially thought it was a malfunction, but when no one responded to the help chat, I became suspicious.

And only then did it dawn on me: s**t, I pressed a link and entered my credit card details!!!

What have I done? Called the credit card company and had my card blocked just to be sure, changed my password at Fiverr, scanned my MacBook and reported the incident to Fiverr. After a small moment of panic, everything is fine again. There were no suspicious actions on my credit card and after my phone call they couldn't do anything with it anymore, because it was immediately blocked. I just can't do anything with it anymore🤣

This wise lesson cost me €7.50 for a new card. Fortunately, I use a password manager so I don't have the same password for everything, so there is no danger to other sites or codes.

So this is one way of phishing. What else is covered? Phishing is a form of online fraud where criminals pose as legitimate companies to steal personal and financial information. This can be done via email, text message, social media or other channels.

How do you recognize phishing?

• Unbelievable URLs: Always check the URL of the website where you enter your data. (Yes, I could have seen it that way.)
• Grammatical errors: Phishing messages often contain spelling and grammatical errors. (Not in my case.)
• Unexpected requests: Be suspicious of unexpected requests for personal information. (This seemed logical and that is often where the danger lies.)

What to do if you are a victim?

• Block your card: Contact your bank directly to block your card. (Check, and yes, it will cost you money, in my case €7.50, but think about what it will cost you if they use your card, probably more.)
• Report the fraud: Report the phishing attack to the relevant service and to the police. (Check, they have been banned under the username they used to contact me, but they will probably create a new one.)
• Check your accounts: Keep a close eye on your bank statements for suspicious activity. (Check, luckily I got there in time.)

How to protect yourself

• Use strong passwords: Use unique, strong passwords for all your accounts. (For example, use a password manager so that you don't use the same password multiple times.)
• Two-factor authentication: Enable two-factor authentication where possible.
• Be careful with links: Don't just click on links in emails or messages from unknown senders. (The bad thing is, I knew that, and I did it anyway, STUPID.)

Conclusion phishing is a serious threat, but by being vigilant and taking the right precautions you can protect yourself and your information. It can really happen to anyone and I hope my experience helps you to be better prepared for the dangers of online fraud.