How not to het hoocked by Phishing

Phishing is one of the valuable internet security threat. A wonderful tool for scammers indeed. Scammers distributed millions of phishing scam emails that targeted many different entities. My purpose is to make internet users armed with little knowledge about how phishing scams work, so that they can ensure themselves that they wont become victim of such sites.

What the heck is this?

A phishing scam is one in which victims are tricked into providing personal information such as account numbers, passwords and credit card details to what they believe to be a legitimate company or organization. The entire purpose of a typical phishing scam is to get the recipient to provide personal information. In order to carry out this trick, the scammers often create a "look-a-like" webpage that is designed to resemble the target company's official website. Typically, emails are used as "bait" in order to get the potential victim to visit the bogus website. The emails use various devious ruses to trick readers into clicking on the included links, thereby opening the bogus website. Information submitted on these bogus websites is harvested by the scammers and may then be used to steal funds from the user's accounts and/or steal the victim's identity.

Phishing scam emails use a variety of ruses to explain why it is necessary for recipients to provide the requested information. Often, the messages imply that urgent action on the part of the recipient is required. Some of the most common ruses are listed below. The scam emails may claim that:

• The customer's account details need to be updated due to a software or security upgrade.
• The customer's account may be terminated if account details are not provided within a specified time frame.
• Suspect or fraudulent activity involving the user's account has been detected and the user must therefore provide information urgently.
• Routine or random security procedures require that the user verify his or her account by providing the requested information.

Don’t let them bait you

Links in phishing scam messages are often disguised to make it appear that they lead to the genuine institution site. The best way to protect you is rather than using the provided link in the email, you should copy the link and email it to the legitimate company or business, asking if the email is legitimate. If it is frudlante this could help shut down phisher faster.
Only use the address that you have used before, or start at your normal homepage.
Most companies require you to log in to a secure site. Look for the lock at the bottom of your browser and “https” in front of the Website address.

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