Guest Author - Debbie Jacobsen

Have you ever received an email from your bank or credit card company, urging you to use the included link to log in and verify account information? Have you ever received an email from your bank asking you to call a certain phone number to verify your account? If so, there’s a good chance the email is fraudulent.

The use of a fraudulent emails in an attempt to lure people into giving out sensitive information like account numbers and passwords is called phishing. To the unsuspecting victim these emails appear legitimate, often using “official” logos and terminology. The idea behind phishing is to get the victim to take action, which includes either clicking on a link or dialing a phone number.

Once connected to an “official” looking website or an “official” sounding voice response system (if the scam involves calling a phone number, the victim is required to enter her account credentials. This part of the scam is called “pharming”. It’s all over at that point because the phisher just got what he wanted – total access to another account. The victim usually won’t find out she’s been robbed until her funds are wiped out or her credit card is suddenly “maxed out”.

Online phishing scams are becoming more and more prevalent, with well over one million people in the U.S. reporting losses each year alone. Individual losses in the United States total nearly one billion dollars a year and businesses lose over twice that much. The number of people reporting losses from online phishing scams in the UK is doubling every year, with losses now totaling over ₤24m a year.

Phishing is a global problem, and the best way to avoid becoming victimized is to maintain a constant awareness of the scam. By doing this, you will treat every email with suspicion; you will never click on an email link or dial a phone number just because the email urges you to do so. If you believe the email might be legitimate, open a web browser and manually visit the site. If asked to call and verify your account, get out the phone book and find the number yourself.

Where to Report Phishing Scams

People who run phishing scams are criminals, and need to be caught. When a new phishing scam is started, many times the company being “scammed” does not know they are being used in a scam. If you want to help stop phishing scammers in their tracks, it’s important to report any phishing emails you receive. Here are some places where you can report phishing scams:

United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team
Anti-Phishing Working Group

You should also contact the security folks at the company that is being defrauded. Just go to the company's website and look for a link for "security", or "fraud". Most financial institutions have this information easily available on the main page of their website.

If You are a Phishing Victim

If you believe you have been victimized by a phishing scam, the first thing to do is call your bank or credit card company that holds the compromised account. Tell them what happened and request a new account number and credentials. You should also report the incident to local law enforcement as well as the FBI. Next, contact the credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union) and ask them to put a fraud alert on your account. Depending on the type of data that was stolen, you might want to change account numbers on all your credit cards, even those that weren’t compromised.


For more information on phishing and other computer security issues, visit: Antivirus-Firewall-Spyware.com