The Danger of Suspicious Links for Your Tablet: Here’s What You Should Know

Picture this: You get an email about a special delivery from Amazon. There’s something wrong with the address and the payment information you have provided. To avoid delays, Amazon wants you to re-enter the necessary details on their order checkout page, for which they have given a link in the email.

But you don’t recall placing an order for anything. So, what do you do? Click the link! Unfortunately, that’s the wrong answer.

The problem is, if you have no idea what the delivery is about, you are likely looking at a phishing email. By clicking any links in it, you could be opening yourself (and your tablet) to a whole lot of trouble.

Now, this is just one example of the countless scenarios you may come across with suspicious links. Deceptive actors could share them in the guise of the IRS, banks, employers, social media platforms, and various service providers (gaming sites, streaming apps, etc.).

Whatever form they appear in, unknown links can be pretty dangerous. You can never know who’s behind them and what trouble they can cause until the damage is done.

The good news is, a lot of the time, you can protect your tablet and yourself from trouble with a few simple precautions.

For instance, you could check the email that sent you a suspicious link on a reverse lookup platform or contact the sender directly via phone if you already have a verified number for them.

In this article, we explore what you could be risking with a frivolous click and how you can guard against malicious advances.

Dangerous Links: What They Are and What’s at Stake

Emails aren’t the only medium that could distribute shady links. Social media posts, direct messages, online ads, messaging apps, websites, and forum comments can carry them, too.

What they will all have in common is a credible disguise. They can impersonate any number of well-known people and entities (sometimes, even those personally known to you, like your bank). They can originate from a close friend as well (especially if their account gets hacked).

But how dangerous can malicious links be? The risks they can pose to you and your tab include,

• Downloading Dangerous Software

A seemingly credible link in an email, ad, or website could download malware (or malicious software), such as Trojans, ransomware, keyloggers, and spyware, to your tablet. These can be pretty hostile and could steal data, track your keystrokes, hold your tab for ransom, or make your device unusable. 

• Directing You to Phishing Sites

Shady links can take you to spoofed web pages that collect sensitive data like account passwords, credit card information, and home addresses. So, by clicking a link in an unsolicited message to claim a prize or reactivate an account, you could be giving away critical personal information to a scammer.

• Stealing Your Hard-Earned Money

Financial fraud is one of the common outcomes of clicking unsolicited links. 

For instance, if someone gets into your Amazon account with the help of a phishing link, they can go on a shopping spree using your saved credit card information. Things can get worse if they get access to your bank details.

• Invading Your Privacy

At times, dangerous links can provide cybercriminals with remote access to your tablet.

When this happens, they can watch all your online interactions (from the websites you visit to the emails you send) without you ever finding out.

How Can You Protect Yourself (and Your Tablet) From Suspicious Links?

If you aren’t careful, suspicious links can cause irreversible damage to you and your devices. But you can often evade them by,

• Watching Out for Red Flags

Unusual grammatical errors, suspicious use of language (that seems atypical of the message sender), shortened URLs that conceal website addresses, and mismatches in the link text and the URL linked to it usually signal that something is amiss.

• Being Skeptical

When you haven’t entered a sweepstake, anyone who says otherwise is likely trying to dupe you. Remember, scams using deceptive links can be highly sophisticated and convincing. But caution, intuition, and common sense should warn you against them if you pay enough attention.

• Practicing Emotional Discipline

Scammers will often use bait to lure you into clicking on unsolicited links. It could be a prize for a sweepstake you never entered or a hard-to-resist deal that’s only available for a limited time. Keep in mind that greed, curiosity, FOMO, and fear can work against you if you allow impulsive tendencies to take over.

• Verifying Before You Click

Never click unless you know for sure who you are dealing with. To authenticate a communication, you can check the email address against the one the sender has previously used, reverse search the email, call back using a verified number, or learn more about the message sender with a Google search.

• Installing a Virus Guard

A reputable virus protection software can provide around-the-clock support by scanning your tablet, emails, and websites, alerting you to threats, blocking dangerous malware, and keeping your device safe. Ensure you scan your tablet regularly or set up automatic scans if that facility is available. 

• Reporting Suspicious Activity

If you notice a suspicious link in an unsolicited email, tag it as spam to let your email service provider know about unwanted or dangerous communications. If it’s on a social media post or comment, alert the platform of a possible scam or spam. You can also escalate malicious links to the FTC and the FBI’s unit that investigates internet crime. 

Wrapping Up

Those seemingly innocent links that appear in emails, social media posts, DMs, ads, and websites can cause serious harm to your tablet if you don’t watch out.

They can download dangerous software that holds your tab for ransom, causes hardware failure, or provides cybercriminals with remote access to your device.

That’s not all. Shady links can phish for personal data and target you for identity theft and financial fraud, too.

So, before you click, be skeptical, keep your emotions in check, and look for warning signs that could give away malicious intent. Verifying the sender’s identity is also important.

In addition, install a virus guard and run regular scans to protect your tablet from potential threats. And if you come across anything suspicious, be sure to alert the relevant authorities to investigate.