The one that is almost certainly real
Handle a message that is genuine the same way you handle one that is not, and stop losing things to over-caution.
Everybody is warned about believing a fraud. Almost nobody is warned about the other mistake, which is quietly more common: deleting something real.
A screening invitation, a delivery that needed a new date, a renewal that then lapsed. Being cautious feels free, and it is not — it costs appointments, and it costs money, and nobody ever finds out that it did.
The good news is that you do not need a second skill. The move that keeps you safe from a fraud is the same move that gets you to the genuine thing: leave the message alone and go to the company by a route you already had.
Key points
- Use the same move on a genuine message as on a suspicious one
- Report and remove a message in one press, and know that a real company will find you another way
- Say what over-caution actually costs, and why nobody notices it
What to remember
- Because the safe move is the same either way, you never have to work out which sort of message you are holding.
- Pressing a link is not the disaster people imagine. Typing a password into the page that follows is the part that matters.
Try this
Next time a message arrives that you think is genuine, go to the company through your own app or your own bookmark rather than its link. You will lose about fifteen seconds, and you will never again have to decide whether a message is real.
Practice: The one that is almost certainly real. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.