In today's digital world, phishing attacks (a fraudulent technique used online to obtain sensitive data through electronic communication) are becoming more frequent and more sophisticated. GoPay is not immune to attempts to impersonate our services with the aim of extracting personal data or funds from our clients. These fraudulent activities often involve fake sign-in pages for the GoPay admin interface or fraudulent emails posing as official payment notifications.
In this article we look at how to recognise phishing attacks and how to defend against them effectively. We will go through specific examples that will help you identify fraudulent attempts and stay safe.
How to recognise phishing
Recognising phishing attacks can be difficult, but there are certain signs that can help you:
An unexpected email:
Be cautious with unsolicited emails from people you do not know. If an email looks suspicious, do not open it.A request for personal data:
Trustworthy institutions never ask for sensitive information such as your password or payment card details by email.Poor grammar and typos:
Phishing messages often contain errors and poor grammar. That is a red flag that you are dealing with a scam.Urgency:
Attackers often create a sense of urgency to push victims into reacting quickly. If an email creates a sense of urgency, be careful.Too good to be true:
Offers that are unusually advantageous or hard to believe are often part of phishing attacks.A suspicious email domain:
An email from a public domain (e.g. gmail.com, yahoo.com) or with a misspelled domain (e.g. „gopai.com“ instead of the correct „gopay.com“) is suspicious.A suspicious URL:
Links that do not match the legitimate domain or show an incorrect URL preview are often fraudulent.
Specific examples:
1. Example of an impersonated GoPay admin sign-in:
Image 1 – A fraudulent page (resembling https://auth.gopay.com/a/user) prompting you to sign in to your GoPay account.
The URL in the address bar is not secured and has no connection to GoPay, it only tries to imitate it with a similar form.
The logo shown differs from the official one and is of poor quality.
The company name is given in an incorrect form.
The button is broken and incorrectly shaped.
Poor grammar and word endings.
Privacy information is missing.
Image 2 – The standard GoPay admin sign-in page
The address is always secured with a certificate registered to GOPAY s.r.o. and is in the correct form.
The logo is correct and of standard quality.
The company name is stated correctly.
The button is formatted correctly.
The grammar is correct.
Privacy information and other elements of the page are present.
2. An impersonated payment notification email.
Image 3 – A fake „payment information“ email
The sender is not GoPay, it only tries to imitate the name.
The actual recipient is not shown (they are in blind copy).
The wording differs from a genuine payment email and adds a sense of urgency.
The email offers to complete a payment.
Poor grammar and word endings.
Image 4 – A genuine „payment information“ email
The sender is GoPay.
The recipient is stated correctly.
The wording contains payment details, including the ID and the amount.
A genuine „Payment information“ email does not offer to complete a payment, it only lets you check the payment status.
The grammar is correct.
What to do if you become a victim of phishing
Change your password immediately on all relevant accounts.
Contact your bank or financial institution if you provided financial information.
Report the phishing attempt to the relevant authorities and to the company that was impersonated.