How Not To Get Hooked by Phishing Scams

Phishing is a form of Internet piracy. It’s an attempt to fraudulently acquire your personal or financial information—such as passwords, bank and credit card account details—by posing as a trustworthy person or business.

The Anti-Phishing Working Group reports that the number of phishing sites stood at 37,000 in May 2007, with roughly 23,000 attacks occurring that month.

How does phishing work?

A typical phishing attempt comes to you as an official-looking e-mail or instant message from a reputable company or trusted financial institution. Using genuine logos and branding, the message will contain forged links that promise to take you to one place (like eBay or an interesting video) but really connect you to sites that can steal your information.

What can you do?

By following simple guidelines and using caution, you can avoid the possibility of having your personal information stolen.

• Never click on any links or reply to e-mail or pop-up messages that ask you to “validate” your account information online. Instead, use the company’s phone number that you know to be genuine or type in the Web address yourself.
• Be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files from e-mails you receive, regardless of who sent them.
• Don’t e-mail personal or financial information to unknown people or businesses.
• Install the latest anti-virus software and firewall and update periodically.
• Avoid invitations to redeem winnings from a contest you’ve never entered or to share in a fortune that’s too good to be true. If you did not initiate the communication, do not provide any information.
• Review your credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them and check for any unauthorized charges.
• If you believe you’ve been scammed, file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov/idtheft or www.ic3.gov.

Victims of phishing can become victims of identity theft. While you can’t entirely control whether you will become a victim of identity theft, you can take some steps to minimize your risk.

If an identity thief is opening credit accounts in your name, these new accounts are likely to show up on your credit report. You can obtain your free credit report and information about your credit score by mail or online from www.AnnualCreditReport.com or by calling 877-322-8228.