Beware of emails from these brands as it may be a phishing scam - htxt.co.za

If you have spent any time on social media this year, you have likely seen the meme where a scammer tried to trick someone with a rather convincing phishing email pretending to be from Microsoft. Imitating well-known brands and companies is a tactic often employed by cybercriminals, as email recipients very rarely scrutinise them before clicking on any links they may be prompted too. The tactic is so widespread that Check Point Research (CPR), the threat intelligence arm of cybersecurity solution provider, Check Point, has shared some insights for the first quarter of 2026. More specifically, it has shared the most imitated brands during Q1 2026, with several big tech firms featuring in the top 10. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Today Years Old (@todayyearsold) Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the mention of the aforementioned meme featured above, Microsoft was the most imitated. Last October, support for Windows 10 also came to an end, so hackers were likely aiming to leverage that in order to gain access to people’s sensitive information or login details. “The latest findings show that Microsoft remained the most impersonated brand, appearing in 22% of all phishing attempts recorded during the quarter. The results continue to highlight a persistent trend: cybercriminals are systematically abusing widely used enterprise, cloud, and consumer platforms to harvest credentials and gain initial access to accounts and corporate environments,” explained CPR in a release to Hypertext. “Apple rose to second place with 11%, followed by Google in third place at 9%. Amazon ranked fourth with 7%, while LinkedIn climbed to fifth place at 6%, underscoring growing attacker interest in professional identities and workplace access. Notably, the top four brands alone accounted for nearly 50% of all brand phishing attempts observed during the quarter, reflecting a strong concentration around a small number of globally trusted platforms,” it added. A surprise entry in the list is Tesla, which ranked around the same frequency as WhatsApp and YouTube. It is interesting given the EV maker does not sell its products globally, and other Elon Musk-owned operations like X (formerly Twitter) and Starlink do not feature in the list. It is also the only car brand, which does say something about its popularity or infamy, regardless of what you think about the Cybertruck. The top 10 most imitated brands in phishing email attempts during Q1 2026 is as follows: Microsoft – 22 percent, Apple – 11 percent, Google – 9 percent, Amazon – 7 percent, LinkedIn – 6 percent, Dropbox – 2 percent, Facebook – 2 percent, WhatsApp – 1 percent, Tesla – 1 percent, YouTube – 1 percent. [Image – Photo by Getty Images on Unsplash] Let's talk tech! Get the tech news you want to read. Take our reader survey and tell us how we can help you better. Take the survey now