How to Spot a Phishing Email (Before You Click Something Dumb)

Published under The Operations Hat on HatStacked.com

Welcome back to Cybersecurity Survival Week on HatStacked, where HatStacked is saving small business owners from the dark side of the internet, one click at a time. Yesterday we built your cybersecurity checklist. Today, we’re teaching you how to dodge the digital scams that land in your inbox pretending to be “urgent account updates.”

Phishing emails are the cockroaches of the internet: they’re everywhere, they adapt fast, and no matter how many you swat, another one crawls out of the junk folder. Most small business owners have seen one that looks convincing until you realize the “bank” spelling its own name wrong was probably a red flag.

What Phishing Really Looks Like in 2025

If you’re picturing cartoonish scam emails written in broken English asking for gift cards, think again. Modern phishing campaigns are sophisticated, polished, and often indistinguishable from legitimate business messages.

Artificial intelligence has made it easier than ever for scammers to copy branding, tone, and timing. Many now scrape your website or LinkedIn profile to personalize messages that look frighteningly real. That “invoice from your web host” might even include your actual domain name, pulled from public WHOIS data.

The result? Good people click bad links every day. Phishing doesn’t rely on stupidity. It relies on distraction.

Why It Works on Smart People

Hackers don’t need you to be clueless; they just need you to be busy. When you’re processing payroll, scheduling client calls, and juggling tax documents, your brain fills in the blanks. You read what you expect to see.

They also know when to strike. The end of the month? Perfect. Tax season? Even better. During the holidays when you’re half out the door? Ideal. Timing is their weapon. They mimic urgency because they know it overrides caution.

Your brain is trying to help you move fast, but hackers count on that reflex. Cybersecurity, on the other hand, is about slowing down.

How to Recognize a Phishing Email: The Obvious Signs

The first layer of defense is awareness. Once you know the classic signs, you’ll start seeing them everywhere.

1. Spelling and grammar errors. Real companies have copy editors. Scammers have Google Translate.
2. Urgency or threats. “Act now or your account will be deleted” is not a normal tone for customer service.
3. Suspicious sender addresses. [email protected] (with a capital I) is not the same as [email protected].
4. Weird links. Hover your mouse over them before you click. If that “QuickBooks” link points to quickbookssupport.co.in/fix/, it’s not QuickBooks.
5. Unexpected attachments. Anything ending in .zip, .exe, or .js is a digital time bomb.
6. Vague greetings. “Dear Customer” means they don’t know your name and that’s a clue they shouldn’t have your info in the first place.

The “Hover Test” That Saves Businesses

One of the simplest tools in your cybersecurity toolbox is your mouse. Hover over any link before you click. Look at the URL preview that pops up in the bottom corner of your email window. If it doesn’t match the company name exactly, don’t touch it.

Legitimate companies host their own domains. If the link leads somewhere completely different, or is disguised by a long string of random letters, it’s a scam. Think of the hover test as your inbox’s version of checking ID at the door.

And if you’re on a phone or tablet, hold your finger down on the link until a preview appears. No clicking, no commitment.

Common Phishing Scenarios Small Businesses Fall For

Let’s be honest, hackers are great storytellers. They know what will make a small business owner panic, click, or both. Here are their greatest hits:

• “Invoice from your supplier.” It looks legitimate, but the PDF contains ransomware.
• “Quick password reset.” Spoiler: it resets your bank password to their password.
• “Delivery confirmation.” The link doesn’t lead to UPS, it downloads malware.
• “Tax document ready.” Usually sent right around April, because hackers also know when the IRS deadlines hit.
• “Customer complaint.” You click before thinking because it’s tied to your business reputation. Classic move.

Once you recognize the playbook, you’ll never look at your inbox the same way again.

Verify Requests Outside of Email

This rule alone could save thousands of small businesses every year:
Never respond or click from within a suspicious message.

If an email asks you to update billing info, reset a password, or verify an account, go directly to the company’s real website by typing the address manually or using your saved bookmark.

If it’s legitimate, the same alert will be visible once you log in. If it’s not, you’ll know immediately. This one habit can prevent 95 percent of credential thefts.

Train Your Team (Because Someone Will Click Anyway)

Even the best training won’t make everyone perfect. But the goal isn’t perfection, it’s awareness.

Run mock phishing tests a few times a year. Services like KnowBe4, Proofpoint, or Hook Security send realistic fake emails to your staff and track who clicks. Instead of shaming anyone, use it as a teachable moment.

Make it fun. Hold a “Phish Fry Friday” where you go over recent examples, point out the red flags, and reward whoever spotted the trickiest one. Humor makes cybersecurity feel less like homework and more like survival training.

And remember: employees are not the problem. They’re part of the solution, if you involve them.

What to Do If You Click the Link

Let’s say it happens. Someone clicks. The screen flashes. You realize instantly it wasn’t real. What now?

1. Disconnect from Wi-Fi. That stops the spread before malware can sync to shared drives.
2. Notify whoever manages your IT or email system. If you’re the IT person, take a deep breath and start your recovery checklist.
3. Change the passwords for any potentially exposed accounts.
4. Run a full malware and antivirus scan. Use software like Malwarebytes, Norton, or Windows Defender.
5. Inform affected customers or vendors if data may have been accessed. Transparency saves your reputation faster than silence.

Then document what happened. What tricked you? When? The goal isn’t blame, it’s pattern recognition. You’ll spot it faster next time.

How to Build a Culture of Curiosity

The safest small businesses aren’t paranoid, they’re skeptical. Encourage employees to question emails that seem off. Make “Is this legit?” a normal thing to ask in your office chat.

Add a dedicated Slack or Teams channel where employees can drop screenshots of suspicious messages for review. When people feel comfortable admitting doubt, the company stays safer.

The best security policy in the world is worthless if people are afraid to look dumb for asking questions.

Bonus Tip: Don’t Forget Text Messages

Phishing isn’t limited to email anymore. “Smishing” (SMS phishing) is exploding in popularity. These texts often claim to be from banks, delivery companies, or even your own team tools like PayPal or Slack.

If a text includes a link, even from a “known” sender, verify it through a separate channel before clicking. Hackers love pretending to be you. Don’t make it easy.

The Takeaway: Slow Clicks Save Companies

You can’t stop scammers from sending emails, but you can stop them from succeeding. Awareness costs nothing, but ignorance costs everything.

Take five seconds to hover, reread, and question before you click. Encourage your team to do the same. Phishing thrives on speed. Slow down, and you win.

By Friday, you’ll see how these tiny habits stack up to serious protection. And speaking of Friday, come back at the end of Cybersecurity Survival Week to see what happens when a small business ignores all this advice. Spoiler: it’s not pretty.