Preventing Angler Phishing Attacks: A Comprehensive Guide

What is Angler Phishing?

Angler phishing is the newest iteration of phishing techniques targeted actively at social media users. Scammers pretend to be customer support specialists or other representatives of a company and contact the victim with a direct message.

Unlike in a regular phishing scam, the scammer uses your past social media activity to fine-tune the angler phishing trap. Those complaining or leaving bad reviews on social media platforms are the usual angler phishing targets. They actively seek help from a company that doesn't respond, which makes them vulnerable.

Just like an angler fish attracts prey with a shiny light, angler phishers attract victims with a quick and easy solution to their problem. Except that instead of a solution, they get their personal information - login details, social security numbers, and bank credentials, stolen.

Lack of moderation and the sheer number of users make the biggest social media platforms a breeding ground for angler phishing baits. X, Facebook, and TikTok are notorious for allowing such scams to be created and allow them to work.

How Angler Phishing Works?

Just like in other similar social media scams, it starts with cybercriminals creating fake social media accounts. The aim is to impersonate companies or employees of companies as best as possible. Some are easy to notice as fakes. Others might be developed for months before starting the angler phishing attack.

Then, cybercriminals look for possible victims in reviews and comment sections of social media platforms. Anyone who has ever publicly complained or wanted to contact a company through social media is a potential victim. The fake account will try to be the first one to answer the request.

They first might lure the victim in with social engineering techniques. They might promise to solve a problem or provide compensation for the hassle the customer experienced. To make it happen, they ask the victim to take some simple steps - provide personal information, transfer money, send photos, or click on a fake link with malware.

Not just individuals can be victims of angler phishing attacks. Such scams may damage the reputation of an organization in a serious way, especially if it's a business requiring lots of compliance, such as a bank.

The loss of reputation is much more difficult to measure for a company, so cases where individuals lose their data or money are more known. Despite the joint effort of social media sites and companies, angler phishing is still one of the most common scams on social media. You must teach yourself how to defend against it.

How to Identify Angler Phishing?

Social media users contact companies with various queries all the time. It's precisely what the angler phishing trap makes use of to lure the victims. Identifying such angler phishers requires evaluating how the accounts look and act.

Unverified or suspicious accounts

Fake social media accounts aren't that easy to spot, as scammers are getting better. Still, there are some universal red flags to look for. If a stranger is writing to you, check when their profile was created, what content is uploaded, and whether AI-generated or stock images are used.

Poor grammar and spelling

Often, scammers aren't fluent in English and will use poor grammar and spelling mistakes in their communication with you. No trustworthy company would let their customer support communicate with grammar mistakes!

Requests for sensitive information

No company would contact you first to ask for your password, social security number, payment card details, or other sensitive information. Especially over a direct message in a social media chat.

Unofficial information or links

An official social media channel of a company will always use its website with the newest information as a reference. A phishing attack often uses suspicious links or inaccurate information, sometimes promising more than it's possible.

Best Prevention Practices for Individuals

The only fool-proof method of avoiding angler phishing attackers is to not communicate with companies on social media. It's too effective a channel to abandon, so instead, you must take some additional steps to safeguard yourself.

• Contact companies directly. Always try to contact companies over the phone or via email. If you must use social media, make sure that the account is verified.
• Don't share sensitive information over social media. Never share your personal, payment, or login details over social media. It's one of the guaranteed ways to avoid all kinds of social media scams.
• Inspect all links sent to you. Don't rush to press on suspicious links sent to you by strangers or even friends. Read the hypertext carefully and search the link if any suspicions arise.
• Awareness of social engineering tactics. We tend to forget how scams are prevalent online. Staying vigilant and skeptical will save you from most phishing attacks out there.

Best Prevention Practices for Businesses

The best practice to save your customers from an angler phishing attack is to leave no customer unattended on social media. Even if it isn't your main channel, some answers will leave less room for scammers. Answering every query everywhere online is no easy feat, but here's what helps.

• Implementing social media monitoring tools. There are quite a few customer support automation and monitoring tools that can help even small companies keep track of customer queries across different platforms.
• Establishing clear communication channels for customer support. It's not enough to announce that some channels won't be attended. Instead, you should direct customers to where they will get the needed support.
• Training employees to recognize scams. Basic digital literacy training should be a part of all employees, especially customer support. Usually, they are the first line of defense for customers that are being scammed.

What to Do If You’re a Victim?

Anyone can be a victim of an angler phishing attack. It happens to the best of us. Instead of blaming yourself, stay calm and take immediate action.

• Reset login details and contact services that were given away.
• Block the payment methods you may have exposed.
• If the hacker tries to communicate with your contacts, inform them immediately.
• If your device has been infected with malware, run an antivirus scan or take the device to a specialist.
• Report the fake social media account that tricked you.
• Inform the company that its name is used illicitly to run this phishing scam.

Conclusion

Understanding the risks and identifying patterns is the first step in preventing angler phishing scams. You are already ahead of most internet users. Stay vigilant!