Is the email I received from Bitvavo or is it phishing?

Be suspicious of emails or messages that claim you must click, call, or open an attachment immediately. Often, they'll claim you have to act now to claim a reward or avoid a penalty. Creating a false sense of urgency is a common trick of phishing attacks and scams. They do that so that you won't think about it too much or consult with a trusted advisor who may warn you.

Professional companies and organizations usually have an editorial staff to ensure customers get high-quality, professional content. If an email message has obvious spelling or grammatical errors, it might be a scam. These errors are sometimes the result of awkward translation from a foreign language, and sometimes they're deliberate in an attempt to evade filters that try to block these attacks.

If the email claims to be from a reputable company, like Bitvavo or your bank, but the email is being sent from another email domain like Gmail.com, or bitvavosupport.ru it's probably a scam. Also, be watchful for very subtle misspellings of the legitimate domain name. Like bitvav0.com where the "o" has been replaced by a 0, or bItvavo.com, where the "i" has been replaced by an "I" (capital i). These are common tricks of scammers.

If you suspect that an email message is a scam, don't open any links or attachments that you see. Instead, hover your mouse over, but don't click, the link to see if the address matches the link that was typed in the message. In the following example, resting the mouse over the link reveals the real web address in the box with the yellow background. Note that the string of numbers looks nothing like the company's web address.

Phishing is an attempt to obtain your credentials in order to abuse them. This could happen in one of the following ways:

1. Per email
   You receive an email which looks like it has been sent by Bitvavo, which asks you to login to a platform which looks similar to ours, or to send your credentials for verification. Bitvavo will never send an email like this. To make sure the received email is sent by Bitvavo, you can check the anti-phising code. More information about the anti-phising code can be found here.
   
   Example:
   
   
   Explanation
   Bitvavo would never send you emails where you have to fill in your login details or link directly to the Bitvavo platform (only to the FAQ).
2. Website
   It could happen that scammers create a fake Bitvavo website and invite you to login there.
   You can recognize our website by the fact that it ends with “bitvavo.com” and the lock displayed in your address bar at the top left of your screen. It is furthermore recommended to never click a link directly, but to always type the address of the webpage in the address bar yourself.
   
   Example:
   
   Explanation:
   Although the title and descriptions are similar to that of Bitvavo, the advertisement in Google does not concern the Bitvavo website. You will be redirected to a counterfeit website that tries to obtain your login details. 
   
   
   Explanation:
   Although the webpage shows a great deal of comparisons to the Bitvavo home page, this is not the Bitvavo website. In addition, Bitvavo would never ask you to download programs or extensions. If you have done this, it is important to change your login details of your Bitvavo account and all your other accounts as soon as possible from another computer. You must then completely clean / reinstall the device with which you installed the programs.
    
3. Per whatsapp
   Bitvavo has no support via whatsapp and will never ask you to perform actions via whatsapp. Below you see some examples of someone who has received WhatsApp messages (NL) from a so called Bitvavo employee. This is not Bitvavo.
   
4. Per phone
   For security reasons, Bitvavo asks you to connect your phone number to your Bitvavo account. It could happen that, in extraordinary circumstances, Bitvavo will give you a call. However, Bitvavo will never ask for your credentials.

If you have (possibly) been a victim of phishing or if you are worried about something else, please let us know as soon as possible by sending an email to support@bitvavo.com with the subject "Urgent" so we can take action together as soon is possible to limit potential damages.

N.B. We recommend you read the following article, if you happen to have (accidentally) shared your login details as part of the aforementioned.

Please pay attention to the following characteristics and click no links before you do:

1. E-mail address
   Bitvavo only sends emails from an address ending with '@bitvavo.com' or '@info.bitvavo.com' and, for marketing purposes ending with '@news.bitvavo.com'. You might also receive an email from noreply.invitations@trustpilotmail.com to review us. Additionally, leadership@bitvavo.com is a legitimate email address from Bitvavo.
    

2. Anti-phishing code
   Every automated email that Bitvavo has sent includes an anti-phishing code. Make sure this anti-phishing code is included in the email and that it is correct.

   Please note that compliance@bitvavo.com (compliance matters), support@bitvavo.com (support-related issues), fraud@bitvavo.com (fraud-related matters), and complaints@bitvavo.com (complaints) are official customer contact departments of Bitvavo. Emails sent from these addresses do not include an anti-phishing code, so it's important to stay extra vigilant. Always verify the sender and be cautious of phishing attempts.

3. Content
   Bitvavo will never ask for your credentials or ask about specific account details.
4. Verified sender checkmark
   You can check if an email is actually from us by looking for the checkmark next to 'Bitvavo Support' in the message. This displays a popup confirming that the sender is the verified owner of bitvavo.com and shows our logo.

If you are still unsure whether the email you received came from us or from someone else, you can always contact our support team. You can do so by sending an email to support@bitvavo.com.

To best fight these phishing attacks, Bitvavo needs some more information. Email to support@bitvavo.com the following data:

• Sender (full emailaddress);
• Full URL of any links in this email (do not click it, copy and paste).

We will try and take these websites and email addresses down as soon as possible.

When you accidentally click a phishing link, we recommend you follow the below steps as soon as possible:

1. Email all data to support@bitvavo.com so we can check your account;
2. Change passwords into strong and unique passwords for your email account and Bitvavo account;
3. Secure your Bitvavo account in the best possible way.