Phishing

What is phishing?

Phishing is a technique that consists in posing as a trusted company such as a bank, an administration, an electricity or telecommunications supplier, etc., by using its logos, colours, reproducing perfectly the design of the official site, etc. in order to convince the persons concerned to make payments or to steal personal and/or confidential information from them and then use it fraudulently.

VOO will never ask you for this type of information, nor to make a payment by phone nor to click on a link that does not refer to one of its official websites!

Phishing can be done by e-mail, telephone, falsified websites, etc. and the information that fraudsters are trying to obtain includes:

usernames and passwords
credit card numbers
your pin code
etc.

List of the official VOO websites:

How to recognise a phishing attempt?

The purpose of the communication: the author offers you, for example, money or a gift in exchange for participating in a satisfaction survey, claims that you have an unpaid bill that must be paid immediately subject to the interruption of services, you are asked to re-enter your username and password to avoid having your email closed, you are told that you have been selected to win a gift, you are asked to install software on your computer to solve a technical problem remotely, etc. In general, you are pressured to act quickly, you must react immediately. Often also the message is totally unexpected. For example, you have never participated in a competition to win the smartphone or you are not even a customer of the company in question.

The sender: you must double check the email address used by the sender. Placing your mouse over the sender's email address will allow you to check its origin. You must also be wary if you receive an email from a company to which you have never given your custom.

Please note: E-mails received from “Voo” are fraudulent. All our official mails are sent from “VOO” or “VOOmobile”.

The content and the form of the email: pay attention to the content, which often contains spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. The email contains a mix of English and French words, no accents are used and the tone is authoritative.

A link to a fake site or a virus: the link leads you to an address that is not that of an official website. You can view the address to which you will be sent without clicking on the link, just by placing your mouse on it. If it is an extension address or does not even contain the name of the company that is supposed to be sending you the e-mail, it will probably be a fraudulent link.

How to avoid phishing?

Here are some pointers on how to respond to this type of email and avoid being conned 🙂

Be wary when receiving emails offering you a gift that seems too good to be true.

Do not respond to this type of email
If, in the future, you receive emails of this type claiming to be from VOO, let us know and we will notify our IT security teams.
Close all other open web windows
And, above all, don't click on suspicious links
If you have already provided confidential data (password, login, etc.) in this way, we advise you to modify them as soon as possible to avoid any risk of misuse.

10 tips to protect yourself against phishing

Here are some tips to avoid phishing attempts. And above all, exercise extra caution when it comes to sharing your personal information.

Do not share your personal data via email:
Large organisations will never ask you for your personal data via email. This also applies to VOO.
Do not click on suspicious links:
In general, do not click on links sent by email. Instead, go to the site in question: you can manually type the URL in your browser or, to make it easier for you, you can add the site, that of your bank for example, directly to your favourites.
Move your mouse over the link to be opened:
Does the link in question seem familiar to you or, on the contrary, very suspicious? Does it contain spelling mistakes? Is it well written? Depending on the answers to these questions, it could be a trap to lure you to a fake page.
Check whether the link to be opened is a HTTPS site:
Enter your personal data (username, password) only on the HTTPS sites whose information are encrypted. How to recognise a secure web page? The URL starts with “https:// ” and the lock icon appears on the lower right side of the bar of your web browser. If there is no “s”, beware.
Install an ad-blocker on your PC and smartphone:
To protect yourself from malicious advertisements and messages (pop-ups), use these extensions or software offered free of charge on the App Store and Google Play.
Update your devices:
Always use the latest version of your browser, antivirus and other software used on your devices. Security patches are regularly updated and sent to your devices. Install them at once.
Enable 2-step authentication:
Many devices and sites (Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter) offer you 2-step identification: via a password and a code received on your mobile phone. This second protection reduces the risk of intrusion.
Report phishing attempts:
if you detect or are a victim of a phishing attempt, share the information with the organisation in question (your bank, your operator, etc.) or the administrator of the social network, the Forum, the actual website on which the malicious links are running. If the phishing attempt involves VOO, you can contact us at [email protected]. You can also file a complaint with the police.
Do not connect to public Wi-Fi networks:
For online banking, use a mobile connection (via your subscription data) or connect to a home Wi-Fi network. On a public Wi-Fi network, your website can be redirected to a fake site while you are connected in order to steal money or all your data
Use an antivirus with an anti-phishing function:
In addition to our advice, choose an antivirus that offers phishing protection for your computer but also for your smartphone and tablet. The VOO Internet Security antivirus will automatically protect you and alert you if necessary.