Phishing is a way of trying to gather personal information using deceptive or misleading e-mails and websites. Typically, the objective is to make you believe a message and then ask you to perform an action such as clicking a certain link, an attachment, or requesting personal information.
A small number of suppliers on our marketplaces received emails pretending to come from VirtualExpo Group. All phishing emails that were sent via VirtualExpo’s secure email were successfully blocked.
While the VirtualExpo server detects and eliminates all suspicious emails before they arrive in your inbox, if you decide to communicate with buyers outside of our secure messaging system, you’re risking your information to phishing emails. No suppliers that rely upon our secure email service to communicate with buyers were victims of phishing.
HOW CAN YOU PROTECT YOURSELF FROM PHISHING?
These “phishers” may seem trust-worthy, perhaps even using the same logo or a similar email address as a company you do business with, but beware of certain signs.
- You can identify a phishing e-mail by looking at the display name (e-mail address).
- Check the greeting. Is the greeting vague without addressing a particular person or company? Legitimate businesses use a personal salutation with your first and last name. If a mail looks suspicious, don’t open any attachments or click on a link – transfer it to your account manager who will check for you.
- You can also check the email address in the header “from”—if it looks suspicious, don’t open the email.
Verify spelling mistakes. Serious companies send out legitimate and official emails with no spelling mistakes.
THE CONCLUSION?
Use our secure messaging system to officially exchange with buyers and then once you’ve assured their authenticity, you can then communicate your email address if you wish.
In any case, our messaging system secures all of your exchanges with buyers, making sure that you are not at risk to phishing.
