Phishing is a practice used by unscrupulous people in an attempt to obtain sensitive, personal data from unsuspecting individuals. The type of information that these thieves try to get includes social security numbers, credit card account numbers, bank account numbers and more. They might even attempt to steal usernames and passwords so that they can gain access to various online accounts. Phishing scams generally steal this information so that they can use it to create new credit accounts or take out loans.
Phishing scams often take on the appearance of emails or pop up windows that are quite similar in appearance to some of the trusted websites that you visit. Any links included within the email will direct the individual to a fake website. The best opportunity you have to protect yourself from phishing scams is to understand the signs and to guard against them.
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Most phishing emails will not include either your first or last name. Usually these emails are sent out in bulk so it is much easier to exclude names.
Another tip off is that many phishing scams ask the individual to verify their account. In order to do this, you will be asked to submit certain sensitive data such as your log in, password, account number, or social security number.
Many phishing emails will also include a “threat” that your account will be closed immediately or you will lose all of your assets if you do not respond within a specified amount of time. These messages are designed to get people to react quickly and without thinking.
Plus, some phishing emails direct you to click the links within them. If you hover over the link instead of clicking it, you should be able to see the true web address. In the case of a phishing scam, you will see a string of numbers or words that do not resemble the true company’s name.
To protect yourself even more fully, purchase and install up-to-date antispyware and antivirus applications. Each of these is designed to recognize and do away with malicious programs. Filetonic offers a number of programs that can scan and protect your computer from the unwanted spyware, adware, and viruses that sometimes come along with phishing scams. Install one of these programs to provide yourself with the protection you need.
If you use Internet Explorer as your browser, make sure that you install the latest version to get the best level of protection against phishing scams. In fact, you can use a particular feature of Internet Explorer,Phishing Filter (found in the Tools menu), to protect yourself against phishing scams. This program is designed with a built in filter to scan web addresses in order to identify potentially harmful ones. These websites will be blocked from your browser. It also includes an online service that provides hourly updates on newly developed phishing websites. Plus, you can report any suspicious websites or emails directly to Microsoft. You can also report phishing scams to the DTC helpline at 1-877-FTC-HELP.
Susan Keenan | August 26th, 2008
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