Am I safe on the internet?

Your phone buzzes while you are making lunch. A text appears to be from your bank. It says there has been unusual activity, and you must follow a link immediately or your account will be locked. The name looks familiar. The warning sounds serious. Your lunch can wait, but the message can wait too.

Messages like this can be convincing because they meet you in the middle of an ordinary day. They may sound as though they know what matters to you. Urgency is part of the pressure. It asks you to act before you have checked who is asking.

You do not need to judge the message from its appearance alone. A familiar logo, a bank name, or a plausible story does not confirm that the sender is your bank. Even a message in a familiar thread can have a false sender. A sensible person can feel a jolt when a message mentions their money. There is no prize for answering quickly.

Choose your own route back

Start by leaving the link in the message alone. Avoid calling a number supplied in the text. Instead, use a bank contact you already have, such as the number on the back of your card, or open the bank’s app yourself if you normally use it. Ask whether there is a real issue with your account.

That separate contact is the important move. It takes the conversation out of the channel chosen by the person who sent the message. If the bank needs to speak with you, you can find that out through a route you chose. If it does not, you have avoided acting on a false alarm.

The same pause is useful when a message claims to come from a delivery service, a government office, or a friend asking for money. The details vary, but the pressure often feels similar. Slow the moment down enough to check the request independently.

No short checklist can promise complete safety online. People who send these messages keep changing their approach. A useful habit is to pause, find the contact details yourself, and check before doing what the message asks.

Sources

Don’t take the bait: recognize and avoid phishing attacks

Smishing: protect yourself from SMS attacks