This document provides information about how to detect email fraud, also known as phishing. It outlines several signs that an email may be a phishing attempt, including spelling and grammar mistakes, threats or requests for urgent responses, suspicious links that do not match the website addressed in the email, and requests for personal or financial information. The document advises physicians not to provide any sensitive information or click on links in response to suspicious emails and to independently verify requests with the purported sender using verified contact information.

1. What every physician
needs to know:
how to detect email fraud

2. ? phishing
• Email fraud is also known as phishing or spear
phishing.
• Phishing – an attempt by cyber criminals who use an
email message that appears to come from a trustworthy
source to get a recipient to provide sensitive or private
information, such as a username, password, credit card
number, or other secure data.

3. 1 spelling & bad
grammar
• If you notice spelling or grammar mistakes in an
email, it might be a scam – especially if the email
appears to come from an organization you do business
with. Legitimate businesses have communication
departments or staff who review and edit email before
sending it to customers.

4. 1 spelling & bad
grammar
• Check for proper spelling in web addresses as well.
Cyber criminals use web addresses that resemble
the names of well-known companies but are slightly
altered.

5. threats
2• Email scams will entice you to respond to the message
by threatening to close an account or by threatening
another type of action. Legitimate institutions,
particularly banks, do not typically communicate this
way or ask you to click on a link in an email. Do not
reply, click on links, or call phone numbers provided in
the message.

6. threats
2• Contact the institution directly using contact
information you know to be correct if you have any
doubts or questions.
• This also applies to emails with requests for urgent
responses.

7. links
• You can preview a link in an email message, without
having to click on it, by hovering your cursor over the
link. Either a small text box will appear with the full web
address or it will appear in the lower left corner of your
browser window.
3

8. links
• If the link appears suspicious or does not match the
link in the message, do not click on it. These links can
direct you to spoofing sites or lead you to .exe files,
which can spread malicious software.
3

9. 4• If the email message is asking you to confirm or provide
personal information, do not reply. Email is not a secure
method for sharing sensitive information, and legitimate
businesses do not ask you to send information this way.
asking for
personal
information

10. 5• Files attached in an email could contain viruses or other
malware that can weaken your computer’s security. If
you think you received a phishing email do not open or
download any attachments.
suspicious
attachments

11. 6• The next slide demonstrates a real-life example of a
phishing attempt.
email fraud
example

12. Ref. EF54325-EE14555-0456531
Dear Amazon Client,
Your account will be closed because a violation of our term of use
We Investigated in this issue and found a fraudulent activity from another ip address.
In this activity a fraudulent transactions and more suspicious activity from an unknown
computer.
Please verify your identity for we can process this issue
We recommend follow this steps below carefully :
>identity verification
This is a big risk to our customers you will take all responsibility for this issue.
As well if you didn’t complete the steps with all required information we will give this
issueto the US Security Department.
Thanks,
Security Team

13. 7• Look for these signs if you receive a suspicious email:
• Generic greeting (not your name)
• Bad spelling or grammar
• Requests for personal information
• Threats and/or requests for an urgent response
• Spoofed links
• When you’re unsure about the legitmacy of an email
either call the sender or contact your security officer, IT
staff, or consultant.
email fraud
check list

14. protection for
a new era of
medicine
about tmlt:
With more than 18,000 physicians in its care, Texas Medical
Liability Trust (TMLT) provides malpractice insurance and related
products to physicians. Our purpose is to make a positive impact
on the quality of health care for patients by educating, protecting,
and defending physicians. www.tmlt.org
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