A little about Email Phising

One of the biggest frauds being committed today is the scam of email phishing.

What is Email Phishing?

If you often use electronic mail as a communication technique then anyone has tried to phish you unless you haven't opened any electronic mail in the last 18 months. Phishing is the electronic mail you usually get that informs you that your bank account/PayPal account/eBay account has been suspended until you login & confirm your account details. The electronic mail says something like this:

"We recently reviewed your account, & suspect that your Citibank Net Banking accounts may have been accessed by an unauthorized third party. Defending the security of your account & of the Citibank network is our primary concern. Therefore, as a preventative measure, they have temporarily limited access to sensitive account features. To restore your account access, take the following steps to be positive that your account has not been compromised".

If you click on the link provided in the e mail you are taken to a web page that contains all the logos & features of the legitimate organization with a form to fill out with some or all of your account details.

These emails DO NOT come from your banking institution.

They have come from someone who is trying to STEAL your account details. This knowledge will then be stored/or transmitted to the phisher who will now have your account details & can now make transactions on your account.

Do NOT reply to these emails. Your banking institution will contact you by letter or phone if there is an issue together along with your account. In the event you get of these emails DO NOT click on any links in the electronic mail.

 In lieu you ought to contact your bank or financial institution by telephone/personally & ask if there is an issue together along with your account.

 You ought to document any phishing emails to your financial institution and/or to the appropriate Federal authorities. 

According to Gartner about million people reported that their checking account was breached in way or another in the coursework of the last year & over US$ billion were defrauded from the victims!

Other steps to take prevent this from happening to you -

Never submit account details unless a web-site is secure. Look for the closed padlock in your browser status bar & the https:// at the beginning of the Web address. If both of these signs are present, then the Net site is secure. 

Review your bank statements immediately when you get them. Most phishing emails come from spam so get a spam filter & install it on your computer. 

Document ANY phishing attempts to the concerned institution. 

Change your passwords & PINs regularly. It is advisable to make use of separate PINs & passwords for different accounts so that if account is compromised, your whole financial details won't be compromised.

 In case you are a frequent user of EBay, download the EBay Web browser toolbar which is a small program that runs along along together with your Web browser. It flashes red when you visit a feasible spoof site. The toolbar makes use of a database of spoof site URLs, submitted by customers & is updated often.