Practice safe search

I almost got got.

I opened an email that looked pretty darn real.

I got phished — bit the hook. I should have known better. What lured me, you ask? The familiar logo … the email layout. Then, something felt off. (Don’t worry, it wasn’t this site — I’ve long been more careful with others’ info.)

Fortunately, my spidey sense quickly kicked in. I looked at the website ID moments after I logged into the rogue site and realized it was not from my service provider.

Had I not caught my mess so fast I may have been thick into my own crisis communications response. (ACT — tell your friends. 📞)

Luckily, I caught my mistake, but it jolted me like an octo-shot espresso. I reinforced my login so now I have to enter the names of old boyfriends’ mothers’ great-great-grandmothers’ maiden names to safely get back into that website. I also messaged the provider, and it put me on a “watch list.” In other words, creeps, stay away.

This whole thing scared me straight. I mean I’m the one who reminds other people to watch out for scams.

I don’t want you to get duped like I did, so I scribbled a list of to-dos to avoid it.

• Verify senders before you open emails or think about clicking anything. Bad actors may change as little as one letter or character to throw you off.

• Log onto your accounts by manually entering domains instead of clicking email links. It’s a hassle, but it guarantees you’re on the site you mean to visit.

• Check URLs and their trusty padlock🔒 icons in the search bar. Scammers create similar website IDs so you need to be alert before logging in.

• Engage double-triple-50 password protections to deter scumbags.

• Use different passwords for each account.

• Have a basic crisis communications plan in place just in case. (If it’s not a scam, something else will lead you to need it at some point. Count on it.)

The bottom-line-forever message: be prepared, not scared.

©Gail Sideman, gpublicity 2024 

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⚡️⚡️Publicity Power Smart Words of the Week are from Gini Dietrich, creator of Spin Sucks and the PESO model©.

Gini is smart, savvy and pulls no punches. She also returns me to center when I veer off-track.