With all the recent threads about phishing I have decided on writing up a quick guide/article about it and how you can stay safe.
Note: All this is from my own perspective and not Square-Enix's. I'm not sure how they handle this kind of thing or not.

Anyway, most people will find your email (or any email) and mass spam it with things like "Your account has been compromised" - "We'll give you stuff" all that kind of stuff so you fall for it. However there is a lot of core things that they simply cannot do, and it's actually very hard to notice.

When signing in, look for a green box in your browser, I'll post a picture below.


Now if I click the box you'll see this.

Only the official site will have this, as of course it means the site is verified and trustworthy. This is pretty much all you need to look for, but sometimes it's not displayed. IE on the forums (even though it'll take you to that secured page normally).

The other bit we're looking at is HTTP & HTTPS.
HTTP = Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
HTTPS = Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secured.

Along with the green box right next to it, it has HTTPS, if for some odd reason anything to do with Square-Enix's site shows HTTP and not HTTPS (wont be in caps). I suggest you go back and do it manually. As any area that requires you to sign in will be Secures (HTTPS).

Also, never ever click on anything about password resetting from your email, from what I have gathered you'll be given a code only to reset your password, not go to a website.


Note both those links when clicked will display a green box.
*I blocked out the code and my email for my own safety*

After all this if you still feel unsure, set Square-Enix's site as your homepage and do everything manually, and remember If something seems to be too good to be true, then it most likely is.

Lastly, if you do come across a phishing site, be sure to report it to the Cyber FBI or find the webhost and report it to them. As I said earlier, phishing is a crime and people that do it deserve to be put in jail.

I'm sorry if this has been posted before, I thought I'd spend an hour and write up a guide so we all can stay safe. If you're still unsure please post and I'll help you out. If anyone has an issue with this, do let me know. I'm not trying to act like S-E staff or anything.
I'll edit this later as I need to do some dungeons.