Lesson Notes — Recognizing Spam, Phishing, and Safe Communication Practices
Course 1: Computer Literacy / Unit 6: Email & Electronic Communication / Lesson 3: Recognizing Spam, Phishing, and Safe Communication Practices
Lesson overview
Spam is unwanted bulk email, usually advertising. Phishing is more dangerous. It is a message that pretends to come from someone you trust, such as your school, a bank, or a friend, to trick you into giving up passwords, money, or personal information. Both are a type of scam.
How scammers trick people
- Social engineering means manipulating people instead of breaking into computers. Scammers use fear, urgency, curiosity, and greed.
- Spoofing means faking the sender, so the “From” name looks real even though the address is not.
- A malicious attachment hides harmful software in a file that looks harmless.
Red flags
| Warning sign | Example |
|---|---|
| Urgency or threats | “Your account will be closed in 24 hours.” |
| Mismatched sender | Display name says Principal, but the address is a random Gmail account |
| Suspicious link | The link text looks real, but hovering reveals a different address |
| Unexpected attachment | An invoice you never asked for |
| Request for private info | Asking you to confirm a password or code |
| Too good to be true | A prize you never entered to win |
Look deeper
The email header holds technical details about where a message actually came from. Most email programs let you view the full sender address and the original message. If the real address does not match the organization it claims to be, treat it as a scam.
What to do
- Verify: contact the person or company through a phone number or website you already know, not one in the message.
- Flag: use the Report phishing or Report spam button so the security filter learns from it.
- Do not click links or open attachments you are unsure about.
- If you clicked something, tell your teacher or school IT right away and change your password.
Check your understanding
- List three red flags in a message that says “Click here now to keep your school account.”
- What is the difference between spam and phishing?
- Why is it safer to contact a company through its official website than through a link in an email?
Use this lesson’s Key Terms page to build your glossary.