Simple tip for URL checking to avoid malware/virus/phishing

[boyptc]

A quick tip for newbies and everyone, if you are unsure about the link that you've seen through messages that are enticing you to fill in or click. It's best to ignore them and never click. But if you insist, you can hover the mouse pointer to it and see below the browser what it actually contains. But if it's a short URL or any random URL and you cannot stop and still insists to check it, you can use websites like nordvpn's link checker to see if it's a safe link.



--> https://nordvpn.com/link-checker/

There are other the same websites that offers this service for free and I'll edit and add it others have suggestions too.

Others here are experts and can keep themselves safe from any of these attacks. So, with this gesture of verifying the links, I think newbies that will comeby to this thread and try this method will save them from a lot of trouble from phishing, visiting malicious websites and from directing downloadable dangerous files that can hack their crypto wallets and steal their funds.

What does Link Checker do?

Link Checker is a URL checker tool designed to help you avoid malware, phishing attacks, botnets, and fake websites.

Avoid phishing attacks

Got a suspicious email or text? Check the link before clicking — it will significantly reduce the chances of you falling for a phishing attack.

Block malicious websites

Some websites are ridden with malware that waits to be downloaded and executed on your device. Link Checker will let you know about it before it’s too late.

It also has a File checker feature for which you can scan a file through uploading it to them, I haven't used the feature yet so it's up to you if you've got some suspicious file that you want it to be scanned by them.

NOTE: There is no need to download anything even from its official website before using it.

[Nwada001]

Thanks for the heads up, but I will still prefer to go with the old safety step, which is completely ignoring links sent to me from an unusual person, avoiding searching for links on browsers but typing them myself, or better still, getting my favorite links bookmarked to make sure I don't mistake them for a clone.

This suggestion might be helpful when you are really interested to see what's on the link someone sent to you, but what if you copy the link, check it on the safe link checker, and it's clear as safe? You open the site and come across a malicious link under content which your mind is already clear that everything on that site is safe; you can indirectly fall into what you are avoiding without even knowing it.

[OcTradism]

Security and Privacy Encyclopedia.
Officially visit websites & download apps, not fake ones.

Be careful with communication with strangers who are likely scammers and usually try to contact, DM first for proactively finding victims. They can send you links, documents, files and try to force you visit those sites, log in, download, and more.

Basically, you can protect yourself by ignore them and don't need to check anything.

[Sticky Bomb]

Thanks for trying to help, but I'll tell you this for free:

Every third party is both a potential threat and a potential accomplice. Trust them at your own expense. You should not be surprised if they are bribed to certify scammers links as safe and your trust leads to your doom. It's still possible those link checkers are owned by scammers themselves.

It's best to play safe and not clicking links you don't trust. It's even safer if you have a different device you use for wallets, banking apps and keeping confidential documents separate from the one you use for active browsing and clicking links in order to minimize exposure.

[un_rank]

This is not foolproof but will go a good way to help protect someone from getting scammed by phishing links or malwares. As you mentioned the best option is to ignore unsolicited links and bookmark the ones you use frequently and always use that means to access it.

Do not 100% rely on any source to verify links and very importantly, do not keep assets in a device you use frequently on the internet.

- Jay -

[Antotena]

Thanks for the heads up, but I will still prefer to go with the old safety step, which is completely ignoring links sent to me from an unusual person, avoiding searching for links on browsers but typing them myself, or better still, getting my favorite links bookmarked to make sure I don't mistake them for a clone.

This suggestion might be helpful when you are really interested to see what's on the link someone sent to you, but what if you copy the link, check it on the safe link checker, and it's clear as safe? You open the site and come across a malicious link under content which your mind is already clear that everything on that site is safe; you can indirectly fall into what you are avoiding without even knowing it.

Ignoring links completely is the way our Imo, the familiar person or closed to you can do you dirty. Friends has wipe each other's wallets just to get back at each other, there was a recent police case of a friend sweeping the other friend wallet because of a lady. Luckily for the guy, he sent the entire wallet coins to his own wallet and the friend trace the transaction and was able to recognize the guy and that was how he introduced the police and he was picked later where he later confessed just because of a lady.

Link inspection should be done manually done whether it's from a trusted friend or from someone you don't know, the safety measure will not kill you, it will only save you from whatever the person is trying to let you not observed because links can be tricky especially when if involved some case sensitive characters like letters like lI, o0, if you don't observe, you will be redirected to a phishing website.

[Dunamisx]

It is important that we understand why we should not use our browsing device for our wallet use, from the technical section, you will discover being warned to make use of your wallet on an air-gapped device, this will ensure securing you from any form of malicious attempt to get rid of what belongs to you by any form, scam is everywhere and we must know the security measures to take in other not to be affected by any chance.

[Mrbluntzy]

I don't use any additional link to check for phishing links but I avoid clicking on random links, especially the ones that looks like a click bait (with captivating captions).
Sometimes, there are some website that I will be accessing and chrom will automatically tell me that the site am trying to access is not secure and they will give me the option to either proceed to the website or close the  it. Now that you have posted this website, it will assist me. Thanks.

[Churchillvv]

Having known that there is absolutely not SAFU place on the internet.... when I get to visit sites I then to be more careful to visit the appropriate website and not a cloned or phishing site.

Even the nordvpn that seems to treat sites with potential harms have back doors which takes up addresses and other important informations which is a bigger threat (sales of data) than visit shortened linked websites (potential harmful sites ).

It's best to ignore unknown sites, and also have in mind that until it is proven safe then their is absolutely nothing safe here on the internet.

[Agbamoni]

Site checkers can never be 99% accurate. Some website might be tagged as dangerous while some malicious site will go undetected. In addition, most site checker relies on past database history on the general web to check if a site is a malware. Newly malware may not be detected by this site checker.

One good reason I don't like using site checker is because you will have to submit a url to scan for malware thereby sharing your browsing history and sometimes sensitive link to a third party which is the site checker.

For people who priorities privacy dont use a site checker it will be better if you take precautions into your own hands by validating every url before accessing it.

[Catenaccio]

Site checkers can never be 99% accurate. Some website might be tagged as dangerous while some malicious site will go undetected. In addition, most site checker relies on past database history on the general web to check if a site is a malware. Newly malware may not be detected by this site checker.

One good reason I don't like using site checker is because you will have to submit a url to scan for malware thereby sharing your browsing history and sometimes sensitive link to a third party which is the site checker.

What you submit is an url, not full of your browsing history.

Do I miss how to use site checkers?

For people who priorities privacy dont use a site checker it will be better if you take precautions into your own hands by validating every url before accessing it.

It's mainly for security, not privacy because if you are careful and cautious about a domain link like whether it is from a phishing site, you can check it with a site checker. The main purpose of this action is for security, not for privacy.

When you are doing this practice, another concern might appear, it's about privacy.

Like if you submit a suspicious url to a site checker, that website and operator can collect several available data about you, your device and if you use it too regularly, it will have considerable information about your Internet browsing history like what are your most favorite areas like Blockchain, cryptocurrency, or stocks for example.

[GreatArkansas]

There are also some  wallet extensions from your browser that can easily identify some phishing websites, just like Metamask.
I believe they have this feature in their wallet where they can identify some phishing websites.

[tbct_mt2]

There are also some  wallet extensions from your browser that can easily identify some phishing websites, just like Metamask.
I believe they have this feature in their wallet where they can identify some phishing websites.

Wallet extensions can detect phishing sites and give you warnings but you can not let your fund safety depending on their hands. Proactively prepare knowledge about scams, phishing scam type, and have own experience with good discipline on Internet will help you avoid dangerous links and phishing sites without dependence on Metamask wallet extension or other wallet extensions and their own-built detection tools for users.

Avoiding them is better than catching them. Prevention is better than fight back or cure.
[GUIDE] Use this for identifying Scam/Phishing Websites & Exchanges in Crypto.
Tool for catch phishing.

[MusaPk]

Another excellent website that can help you in detecting malicious links or files is VirusTotal. If you about any suspicious link you see while browsing internet on your laptop or received via whatsapp message, just copy that link and paste it in VirusTotal and it will give you result of what different antiviruses say about the link.

I am using it for many years and it has helped me so many times in recognising malicious links. Similarly if you have a file you are not sure whether it's malicious or not you can check it here. It's simple and easy to use.

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/url

 

[btc_angela]

This is not foolproof but will go a good way to help protect someone from getting scammed by phishing links or malwares. As you mentioned the best option is to ignore unsolicited links and bookmark the ones you use frequently and always use that means to access it.

Do not 100% rely on any source to verify links and very importantly, do not keep assets in a device you use frequently on the internet.

- Jay -

Yeah, at least we have some kind of barriers against this scammers.

We need every weapons we can have against this criminals. So it's better to know this kind of URL checking.

And we won't lose anything if we go and try this method as this is one well known method and there are still a lot of us falling for this trick.

[Die_empty]

Thanks for the heads up, but I will still prefer to go with the old safety step, which is completely ignoring links sent to me from an unusual person, avoiding searching for links on browsers but typing them myself, or better still, getting my favorite links bookmarked to make sure I don't mistake them for a clone.

This suggestion might be helpful when you are really interested to see what's on the link someone sent to you, but what if you copy the link, check it on the safe link checker, and it's clear as safe? You open the site and come across a malicious link under content which your mind is already clear that everything on that site is safe; you can indirectly fall into what you are avoiding without even knowing it.

Having more than one device that will be used for different purposes will not be a bad idea. I have a device that is reserved for accessing the internet to visit suspected or unreliable websites. While other devices can never be used to access any of these websites. Anyway, I appreciate OP for this information because it will be very helpful. This is because these scammers are seeking diverse avenues to carry out their illegal activities.

[DYING_S0UL]

URL checkers like this can indeed help satisfy our curiosity, but I wouldn’t rely too much on them. The best way to protect oneself is by always avoiding random links, as always. Because  day by day, these so called viruses, malwares, trojans are evolving, making them increasingly difficult to detect. Also, there have even been cases where antivirus software was unable to remove or even detect them. So imo, it's better in completely avoiding them!

Having more than one device that will be used for different purposes will not be a bad idea. I have a device that is reserved for accessing the internet to visit suspected or unreliable websites. While other devices can never be used to access any of these websites. Anyway, I appreciate OP for this information because it will be very helpful. This is because these scammers are seeking diverse avenues to carry out their illegal activities.

Same here man! Currently I own 3 devices, one is my laptop which I use for my work, and the rest two are mobile phones. One is only for financial use. I don't use it frequently, and only a handful apps are installed there. And the other one is for my daily use! Like you said, for visiting all sorts of places! Isolating workspace give us more security!

[notocactus]

Another excellent website that can help you in detecting malicious links or files is VirusTotal. If you about any suspicious link you see while browsing internet on your laptop or received via whatsapp message, just copy that link and paste it in VirusTotal and it will give you result of what different antiviruses say about the link.

Years ago, I wrote a guide on Virustotal.

• [Guide] Virustotal scan guideline to detect viruses, trojans, malwares, worms.

In that thread, there are recommendations to other sites from forum members but I am unsure all those sites are still lively now.

A post with insights on two approaches: Heuristics, and Behavior analysis.

[boyptc]

This is not foolproof but will go a good way to help protect someone from getting scammed by phishing links or malwares. As you mentioned the best option is to ignore unsolicited links and bookmark the ones you use frequently and always use that means to access it.

Do not 100% rely on any source to verify links and very importantly, do not keep assets in a device you use frequently on the internet.

- Jay -

Yeah, best option is still ignoring those links that might come to us from a stranger and want us to click them. But if our guts tells us to avoid it, it's still the best thing to do is not to give it an attention.

There are also some  wallet extensions from your browser that can easily identify some phishing websites, just like Metamask.
I believe they have this feature in their wallet where they can identify some phishing websites.

That's right, metamask installed as an extension to the browser that we use is also another good way to combat these phishing links.

But I think it will only give a reminder after paying a visit to that sketchy website, I'm not sure yet.

[DediRock]

Great advice, thanks for sharing! Using a link checker is a smart way to stay safe from phishing and malware.