How to Spot a Phishing Email: 8 Warning Signs

November 1, 2026 · 5 min read · the Tempgmail.io team

Phishing emails copy the look of real companies to get your password, payment details or a verification code. They are designed to make you act fast. Learn the signs, slow down, and check through the official app or website instead of the message.

Eight warning signs

1. Urgency or threats: your account will be closed, a payment failed, or you must act within hours.
2. A sender name that does not match the actual address, or a domain with extra words, swapped letters or an unusual ending.
3. A request for your password, a verification code, card details or ID documents. Real services do not ask for these by email.
4. A link whose real destination, shown when you hover or long-press, differs from the text or the company’s own domain.
5. Unexpected attachments, especially archives, documents asking you to enable content, or files named like invoices.
6. A generic greeting where the company would normally use your name.
7. Offers that are too good to be true: prizes, refunds or crypto you did not expect.
8. Messages about an account, order or delivery you do not recognise.

Check before you click

Open the service in a new tab by typing its address or using its app, then look for the same alert there. If the warning is real, it will be in your account. If it is not, the email was not genuine.

In Gmail, compare the sender name with the full address and watch for Gmail’s own warning banners. Hovering over a link on a computer shows its destination without opening it.

Never share a verification code

A code sent by email or text proves that you, right now, are the person signing in. Anyone who asks you to read it back, even someone claiming to be support, may be trying to take over the account. Enter codes only on the site where you started the action.

This is also why a code arriving in a temporary inbox should be used straight away and never treated as private. Codes for accounts you care about belong in a mailbox only you can read.

If you already clicked

1. If you entered a password, change it at once from the official site, and change it anywhere else you reused it.
2. Turn on 2-Step Verification and review recent sign-in activity and connected devices.
3. If you entered card details, contact your bank or card issuer using the number on your card.
4. If you opened an attachment, run a security scan and update your device.
5. Report the message as phishing so others are warned too.

Report it

In Gmail, open the message, choose More next to Reply, then Report phishing. Many companies also publish an address for forwarding fake messages that use their name; check their official help pages for it.