|
Internet scams targeting consumers account for billions of dollars every year. One of the most common schemes, called “Phishing” (pronounced “fishing”), was responsible for scamming $3.2 billion from 3.6 million consumers in a 12-month period ending in 2007, according to the research group Gartner. So how do you prevent becoming a victim?
What is Phishing?
Phishing is when an email is made to look like it's from a well known financial organization or government institution, asking you to provide sensitive information that could be used to compromise your personal or financial security. For example, you may get an email from what seems to be a bank where you have an account, asking you to verify your account number and password, or Social Security number, or other similar information. The email may have the logo of the bank and look very official, and even the link it provides may appear to be pointing to the bank's website. This is enough to fool many people, and have them click on the link and give away their sensitive information to an unwanted party.
So how do you protect yourself against phishing? The most effective way is awareness. Yes, awareness. Here are some simple pointers to help you avoid being a victim:
Caution
Always be cautions and suspiscious of emails or websites asking for information. If an email pretends to be from your bank, call your bank to make sure they sent the email before responding to the email. Also, note that phishing can be attempted through social websites as well as email, so apply the same caution anywhere on the Internet. Regardless of how real a message may seem, examine it for authenticity first.
Also keep in mind that banks and government institutions never, never, ask you to provide your account number, social security number, or any legal information over the internet. The only time you should use your username and password is when you are logging into the institution's website, that you know for sure is the correct site.
Generic Name
Is the message addressing you by your real name, username, or account number, or is it using a generic name like "Dear Customer"? Using a generic name is a simple way to identify a phishing message, although not a guarantee. Even a message with your real name, username, or other information may be fake, so continue to examine.
Internet Address
Ensuring, that the message is taking you to an authentic Internet address (URL), is the most effective way to detect phishing messages. In most cases, the Phishers are clever enough to show you one URL, but take you to a different URL when you click on the link.
For example, a link could appears as http://citi.com, but would take you to http://phisherwebsite.com when you click on it. You can detect this difference by simply moving your mouse over the link in the message (in this case http://citi.com) and ensuring that the same link is being shown as the target link at the bottom of your browser window. If they are different, err on the side of caution and delete the message. Also, when you're taken to a target site after clicking on the link, verify the URL in your browser's address bar to make sure it is the same website you normally use to access the institution's website.
Secure Link
Whenever you're taken to a website that's asking for sensitive information, make sure that your browser has a secure connection to the website. A secure connection ensures that the information exchanged between your computer and the website is encrypted so that it can not be "cyphoned off" by anyone else. Your browser indicates a secure conenction by showing the symbol of a lock (in the locked position) somewhere at the bottom on its window.
* Example e-mail courtesy of Wikipedia.
|
