Spotting a Phish


Phishing emails are increasingly complex and difficult to spot.  Before clicking on a link, opening an attachment, or responding to an email, ask yourself the questions below.  If you answer yes to any, the email might be a phishing attempt and you should not engage with the sender.  If your company has a cyber security team, we recommend you forward the email to them for analysis. 

Please note emails from Terex Team Members will always come from the Terex domain, @terex.com, no variations. 

 

The Sender

 

  • Is the email address from a suspicious domain other than “@terex.com”  (e.g. @it.ter3x.com or @it.terexx.com)?
  • Is it someone you don’t ordinarily communicate with from Terex?
  •  Is the email sent from someone at Terex you normally correspond with, but seems very unusual or out of character?
  • When replying to a message, carefully check the reply to address.  Is the address in the To box an @terex.com address?

 

The Recipients

 

  • Was the email sent to more than one person, but you don’t recognize the names of the other recipients?  Does it seem like and odd grouping of recipients?
  • Were you Bcc’d on the email?

 

Hyperlinks

 

  • When you hover your mouse over the link in the email text content, is the actual link address for a different web site?
  • Does the email only contain a link with only a vague explanation or no explanation at all?
  • Are there misspellings in the link?

 

Date and Time

 

  • Was the email sent at an unusual time of day or on a day the sender is normally off?

 

Subject

 

  • Does the subject line of the email not match the content of the message?
  • Does the subject indicate that it is a reply to a message you never sent or for information you never requested?

 

Attachments

 

  • Is there an attachment for information that you did not request?
  • Does the attachment seem out of place with the content of the message?

 

Content

 

  • Does the sender ask you to communicate with a different email address than what it was sent from?
  • Does the email ask you to click a link or open an attachment to avoid a negative consequence or to gain something of value?
  • Is the email out of the ordinary or does it have poor grammar or spelling errors?
  • Does the email try and create a sense of urgency?
  • Do your instincts tell you there is something odd about the email?

If you have submitted any sensitive information to any suspected scammer, you may report it to the Federal Trade Commission. For more information, see FTC’s How to Recognize and Avoid Phishing Scams.