Phishing for Trouble

If you give a man a fish, he will eat for just one day. However, if you teach him how to fish… he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

And if you teach a crook how to phish, he will try to hook the gullible or ignorant. “Phishing” is the name of an increasingly common type of fraud using email or pop-up messages that entice you to provide personal information (credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information).

If you give a man a fish, he will eat for just one day. However, if you teach him how to fish… he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

Typically, the email looks like an email from your bank, e-Bay or even the IRS. (The IRS does not use e-mail to contact you about issues related to your account or returns. If you receive a suspicious e-mail or even a telephone call reputedly from the IRS, you may call 800-829-1040 to verify its validity.) The email will probably ask you to “update,” “validate,” or “confirm” your account information. For good measure, phishing emails often also threaten a dire consequence if you don’t respond. The messages direct you to a website that looks just like a legitimate organization’s site. But it isn’t. It’s a bogus site whose sole purpose is to trick you into divulging your personal information so the operators can steal your identity and run up bills or commit crimes in your name.

The Federal Trade Commission is the government agency charged with combating fishing phraud, eh, I mean phishing fraud. Here, verbatim, is their top 5 recommendations on how to avoid becoming a victim of phishing fraud.

• If you get an email or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply. And don’t click on the link in the message, either. Legitimate companies don’t ask for this information via email. If you are concerned about your account, contact the organization mentioned in the email using a telephone number you know to be genuine, or open a new Internet browser session and type in the company’s correct Web address yourself. In any case, don’t cut and paste the link from the message into your Internet browser — phishers can make links look like they go to one place, but that actually send you to a different site.
• Use anti-virus software and a firewall, and keep them up to date. Some phishing emails contain software that can harm your computer or track your activities on the Internet without your knowledge.
  
  Anti-virus software and a firewall can protect you from inadvertently accepting such unwanted files. Anti-virus software scans incoming communications for troublesome files. Look for anti-virus software that recognizes current viruses as well as older ones; that can effectively reverse the damage; and that updates automatically.
  
  A firewall helps make you invisible on the Internet and blocks all communications from unauthorized sources. It’s especially important to run a firewall if you have a broadband connection. Operating systems (like Windows or Linux) or browsers (like Internet Explorer or Netscape) also may offer free software “patches” to close holes in the system that hackers or phishers could exploit.
• Don’t email personal or financial information. Email is not a secure method of transmitting personal information. If you initiate a transaction and want to provide your personal or financial information through an organization’s website, look for indicators that the site is secure, like a lock icon on the browser’s status bar or a URL for a website that begins “https:” (the “s” stands for “secure”). Unfortunately, no indicator is foolproof; some phishers have forged security icons.
• Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to check for unauthorized charges. If your statement is late by more than a couple of days, call your credit card company or bank to confirm your billing address and account balances.
• Be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files from emails you receive, regardless of who sent them. These files can contain viruses or other software that can weaken your computer’s security.

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