Gmail’s spam detection feature works pretty well and for the most part does an excellent job at filtering out scam emails from the real ones (although sometimes it ends up filtering out the real ones as well). However from time to time, phishing emails do get through and some of them look so convincing that even seasoned internet users might be fooled.
However Alphabet’s Jigsaw division has recently published a blog post where they talk about phishing and what it is about, and how it can manifest itself in various forms, and more importantly how users can go about protecting themselves. They also created a quiz in which users can then test themselves to see how adept they are at recognizing such emails.
They also break down the various components of an email to better explain the various ways that we can go about checking to see if an email and its links are legitimate. Some of the scams listed in the quiz are actually pretty tricky, but for the most part it involves teaching users how to identify links, and where if a link to a website doesn’t look right, chances are it is a scam.
If you have a few minutes to spare and want to educate yourself (or someone you know) on the dangers of phishing and being able to recognize them, head on over to Google’s website to take the quiz.