Link manipulation is a type of phishing attack that smoothly makes a malicious link look like a reputed organization’s link. Phishers often use misspelt URLs and subdomains. Users often mistake reading the URL properly, which results in many problems. 
The next form of link manipulation is to change the text displayed so that the user tends to go to a new link that leads to a phishing site. Most desktop clients will allow you to preview a link in any way. However, attackers can usually override this function, and many smartphones do not have a preview feature.
Internationalized domain name (IDN) spoofing is yet another form of link manipulation. It generally uses virtually identical characters to mimic the URL of a legitimate site. SSL standard certificates, a standard process, fail to solve the problem, as phishers can usually purchase a valid certificate and conveniently change the content to hack the genuine website.
Three forms of Link Manipulation are explained in simple ways:
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Hiding the URLs
This method proves to be the easiest way to manipulate links. It hides the real URL and redirects to some different sites, though the site looks extremely realistic. We should all be aware of this before clicking on any pop-ups. Staying alert is the best way.
Best tip: Whenever you find a suspected link, you should get into the habit of placing the mouse over the URL instead of directly visiting it. Placing the mouse over the URL will reveal the true URL and can save you from a lot of illegal activity.
- Misspelt URLS
This kind of link manipulation uses well-known URLS and poses itself for the same. If the user is not attentive, then they might get into this pretty soon. We should always check what we click when we are exposed to the internet. This type of posing or faking is also called typosquatting or URL hijacking. These typo-squatted links do not need email; just a little bit of carelessness is enough for them to infect the damage. Hence, we should all be alerted to this.
- IDN Spoofing
In this, hackers or cybercriminals purchase a URL with characters that look just like English characters but are from a different language set. Thus, you can visit a legal website like citybank.com, but because of the characters, it can be a phishing trap. This is a deadly form and can result in heavy personal damage. The best way is to always re-check and then only visit such sites. Please don't visit sites unquestioningly. 
This is an overview of Link manipulation phishing. To avoid such attacks, one should always be alert and follow good practices to avoid getting into this scam. Remember, Prevention is better than cure!