Scams and phishing
How to read a web address before you sign in
A fake page can copy every logo and color. It cannot use the real company's web address.
1 min readChecklist
The short version
The quickest way to spot a fake sign-in page is the address bar. Here is how to read it in a few seconds.
Find the real domain
A web address is read from right to left, starting just before the first single slash. In https://login.microsoftonline.com/common, the part that matters is microsoftonline.com. Everything to its left can be made up by whoever owns that domain.
So microsoft.com.account-check.net belongs to account-check.net, and Microsoft has nothing to do with it. Scammers rely on people reading from the left.
Checklist
- Find the domain: the two words around the last dot before the first single slash.
- Look for lookalikes:
rnicrosoft.com(r and n instead of m),micros0ft.com, extra words likemicrosoft-support.com, or a different ending like.coinstead of.com. - Hover before you click. On a computer, hold the mouse over a link to see where it goes. On a phone, press and hold.
- Do not trust the padlock alone. It means the connection is encrypted, and scam sites get padlocks too.
- Be suspicious of shortened links and unusual endings you have never seen the company use.
When in doubt
Do not use the link. Open your browser and type the address you know, or use a bookmark. If the request was real, you will find it waiting when you sign in that way.
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