Gmail's+Phishing+Protection

Gmail's Phishing Protection

Gmail is now helping us with regard to Phishing Because Gmail uses a forwarding procedure, you can spot phishing mail. How? Well, when you set up a Gmail account you click Forwarding and POP/IMAP. Next, click the option that says "Forward a copy of incoming mail" and specify the e-mail address you want your mail sent to. Scroll down and click Save Changes.

Your e-mail will then be forwarded! Let's say I use PayPal, eBay and some discussion forums and I have created three e-mail accounts, one for each use: Lindburgh-paypal@gmail.com Lindburg-ebay@gmail.com Lindburgh-forums@gmail.com All of those I have redirect to my main account of Lindburgh@gmail.com . At the top of all the Gmail e-mails you receive, there is a To:/From: field e.g. To:From:/ Youtube Services to Lindburgh-Forums@gmail.com Now, to me, "YouTube Service" means YouTube sent the e-mail directly to Lindburgh@gmail.com . However, take a closer look at the To:/From: field: That means YouTube sent the e-mail to Lindburgh-forums@gmail.com

However, the e-mail was forwarded to the e-mail Inbox which I am looking at now, which is Lindburgh@gmail.com . Ergo this is the tool you can use to spot phishing.

For example, if you receive a message supposedly from PayPal with the e-mail address of Lindburgh-forums@gmail.com at the top, you know the e-mail is a scam (phishing), because you should only receive PayPal communications through Lindburgh-paypal@gmail.com . If you receive a message supposedly from PayPal like this, you know it’s phishing

Of course, phishing e-mails are not that obvious to spot, but seeing that the e-mail was sent to Lindburgh-forums@gmail.com tells you the e-mail was sent by someone who knows that e-mail address. And since PayPal only knows your Lindburgh-paypal@gmail.com e-mail address, it's obvious the e-mail didn’t really originate from PayPal.

It is a fact that in 2007, in the United States alone, $3.2 billion was lost to phishing. In the UK, one in 20 e-mail users claim to have been victims of phishing in 2005.

So, all I have to say is don’t get phished! Be a smart e-mailer and use the tactics we have gone over today. It's an easy with Gmail! 