How to spot an unsafe link
Learn about URLs so that you can spot the primary domain where a link will take you. To stay safe online:
Don’t trust links or attachments in emails or social media messages you weren’t expecting
Look at the anatomy of the URL to see where it will take you
Use bookmarks or type web addresses manually
- How links are structured
- Other ways to stay safe online
Anatomy of a URL
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator), or web address, is a unique identifier used to find a resource on the Internet.
Steps to see where a URL will take you:
Look at the text after https://.
If there are more slashes (/) near the end, look at the text before the first one for the destination. If there's no slash, focus on the text at the end of the URL.
If there's no slash, focus on the text at the end of the URL. For a .com domain, the destination is in the last two parts and for a .co.za domain, it’s in the last three parts.
https://cp.sanlam.co.za - the destination is sanlam.co.za
https://google.google-fake.com - the destination is google-fake.com
https://verify.microsft.really.com/microsoft.com - the destination is really.com and NOT microsoft.com
Other ways to stay safe online
