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Security Tips | How to Report Phishing Emails

Updated

Phishing emails are messages that pretend to come from a trusted source (a bank, a vendor, a colleague, even a professional organization) to trick you into sharing passwords, payment details, or other personal information. These scams are increasingly aimed at busy professionals.

Reporting a phishing email, rather than simply deleting it, helps your email provider recognize and block similar messages for you and for everyone else. It only takes a few clicks. Below are step-by-step instructions for the most common personal email services.

 

🔎How to spot a phishing email

  • Urgent or threatening language (“your account will be suspended in 24 hours”)
  • A sender address that doesn’t match the organization it claims to be from
  • Unexpected links or attachments, especially ones asking you to “verify” or “log in”
  • Requests for passwords, payment, wire transfers, or gift cards
  • Generic greetings, odd formatting, or spelling and grammar mistakes

⚠️Before you report: do not click any links, open attachments, or reply to the message.

 

For Gmail users

  1. Open the suspicious message
  2. Click More (the three vertical dots â‹®) next to the Reply button.
  3. Select Report phishing.

📱On your phone: In the Gmail mobile app, open the message, tap the three dots (⋮) at the top right, and choose Report spam.

 

For Outlook.com, Hotmail, MSN, and Live users

  1. Select the suspicious message in your inbox.
  2. Click Report on the toolbar at the top of the page.
  3. Select Report phishing.
  4. Click Report to confirm. The message is sent to Microsoft and removed from your inbox.

📱On your phone: In the Outlook mobile app, open the message, tap the three dots (…), choose Report junk, then Phishing.

 

For Yahoo Mail and AOL Mail users

  1. Open or select the suspicious message.
  2. Click Spam on the toolbar. The message moves to your Spam folder and is reported to Yahoo.

📱On your phone: In the Yahoo Mail app, open the message and tap Spam (you may need to tap More … first). AOL Mail works the same way.

 

For Apple iCloud Mail users

  1. Open the suspicious message and click the Reply menu.
  2. Choose Forward.
  3. Address the message to reportphishing@apple.com.
  4. Click Send, then move the original message to your Junk folder.

📱On your phone: On iPhone or iPad, open the message, tap the reply arrow, choose Forward, and send it to reportphishing@apple.com. Then move the original to Junk.

 

📢Other ways to report

  • Using a different provider? Look for a “Report phishing,” “Report spam,” or “Junk” option, or forward the message to the Anti-Phishing Working Group at reportphishing@apwg.org.
  • Lost money or shared personal information? Report it to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and contact your bank right away.
  • Message claims to be from the Appraisal Institute? Don’t use any links or phone numbers in the email. Contact us using the information on our official website, appraisalinstitute.org. [Optional: or forward it to SECURITY EMAIL ADDRESS.]

🚨If you already clicked a link

  • Change the password for that account right away, from a device you trust.
  • Turn on two-step verification (also called multi-factor authentication).
  • If you entered financial information, contact your bank or card issuer.

 

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