# Lesson Notes — Recognizing Spam, Phishing, and Safe Communication Practices

- Link: https://doss.academy/course-1-computer-literacy/unit-6-email-electronic-communication/lesson-3-recognizing-spam-phishing-and-safe-communication-practices-c1u6l3/lesson-notes-c1u6l3/
- Published: 2026-10-19T12:10:36-04:00
- Author: matthew.leffler@jefferson.kyschools.us

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

 1. List three red flags in a message that says “Click here now to keep your school
    account.”
 2. What is the difference between spam and phishing?
 3. 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.