How to Protect Yourself from Phishing Attempts
Due to recent events, we would like to provide you with some guidance on how to protect yourself from phishing.
We have noticed, and several of our customers have reported, that there is currently a rise in phishing attempts in the vignette sector. These attempts appear as follows:
- Fraudsters create websites that are copies of legitimate vignette providers in order to steal credit card information.
- These websites are advertised for popular search queries such as "Austria vignette".
- Users who click on these ads are redirected to a phishing website that attempts to obtain their credit card details.
- Vignettes are not registered through these fraudulent websites. The goal is solely to obtain credit card data.
How to distinguish phishing attempts from legitimate vignette websites:
With a little caution, fraudulent websites can be easily identified:
- Legitimate providers offering services within the EU always have an imprint, usually linked at the bottom of the website. Make sure an imprint is available and check the details provided there if necessary.
- Legitimate providers offer a variety of secure payment options, such as PayPal in addition to credit cards. If only credit card payment is available, this may be a sign that the provider is fraudulent.
- Legitimate providers usually use website names (URLs) that are relevant and easy to remember. Fraudsters often use URLs that were registered in bulk at low cost and have nothing to do with the topic. Pay close attention to the URL you are redirected to in search results. If it has nothing to do with vignettes, it is most likely a phishing site. Example URLs that we have come across include: snoralyzer.net or thewinemovesme.org.
As you can see, these URLs have absolutely nothing to do with vignettes and are therefore very likely phishing attempts.
- Legitimate providers use well-designed websites optimized for search engines like Google and provide important information to search engines, such as products, reviews, prices, and more. One noticeable feature is the so-called "favicon", the company logo that appears next to the name in search engines and in browser tabs. A missing logo in search results can indicate a fraudulent website.
- Legitimate providers ensure that there are no spelling or grammar mistakes on their website and in advertisements. Spelling errors, obviously auto-translated texts, or foreign languages in search results/ads can be a sign of a fraudulent website.
In the following image, we show you a search result where, next to an ad for https://digitale-vignette-online.at/en, a fraudulent website is being promoted that exhibits several of the warning signs mentioned:
- The URL snoralyzer.net is a random URL that has nothing to do with the topic.
- A favicon (website logo) is missing.
- Grammar mistakes in the title.
- The description is in Dutch, while the title is in German.
You should avoid clicking on such search results and ads, as they are most likely phishing attempts!
We hope these tips will help you identify fraudulent providers before you click on a link in search results or emails.
With a little caution, you can effectively protect yourself from phishing attempts and distinguish legitimate providers like https://digitale-vignette-online.at/en from fraudulent ones.
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