What is a phishing email?

How to recognise a phishing email, with the red flags to look for and what to do next.

A phishing email is a message designed to trick you into clicking a link, opening a file, sharing information or sending money by pretending to be someone you trust.

Red flags to look for

  • A sender address that doesn't match the display name or the organisation's real domain (e.g. micros0ft-support.co).
  • Urgency or threats: "your account will be closed today".
  • Unexpected attachments, especially invoices, zip files or documents asking you to "enable content".
  • Links that don't go where they claim. Hover to see the real address before clicking.
  • Requests to sign in, pay, or change bank details, particularly by email alone.
  • A generic greeting ("Dear user") from a service that normally knows your name.
  • Slightly-off branding, spelling or tone compared with genuine messages.

What to do if you spot one

  1. Don't click, reply or forward it to colleagues.
  2. Report it with your report button, or to your IT/security team.
  3. If you already clicked, tell IT straight away. Speed matters more than embarrassment.
  4. If you entered a password, change it immediately and let IT know.

Practise in a safe place

Try the PhishFoil phishing test to see how many you can spot, or explore real headers with our email analyzer.