Phishing
by Dave Clingman
 

Published in Guadalajara Reporter,
August 28, 2009, page 24

I won US$1,950,000.00 today, or so the email told me.  The email explained that to claim my prize, I would have to reply to them with all my personal information.  Can you say "Identity Theft"?  Actually this email was mellow compared to some I've received.  You've probably received one or two yourself.

The bad ones appear to be sent from your bank, credit card, Paypal, or other financial organization.  The email tells you that something is wrong with your account and that you need to log in to correct the problem.  The email then provides a link to make it easy for you to log in.

The problem is that the link they provide will not take you to your bank or other account, though it might LOOK like the correct website.  When you get to that website and log in, you are giving the phisher your account I.D. and password, which they can then use to log into the true website and do just about anything they want with your money.  Occasionally the email might provide a telephone number to call, rather than a website link.

Such emails are called "phishing attacks".  The person is "fishing" for your account information, so that they can steal your money.  According to www.wikipedia.org, "phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication."

Warning signs of a phishing attack are (1) hyperlinks to official looking websites, (2) generic greetings (like "dear member") instead of using your name, (3) file attachments, (4) misspellings and (5) bad grammar.  You can see some samples of such phishing attacks on my website:
www.clingman.net/phishing

How can you avoid being "taken in" by a phishing lure?  First, don't click on links in an email claiming to be from a financial institution.  Instead, open a new web browser window and type in the web address you know, or use one of your usual bookmarks.  Second, if you're visiting a website that has anything to do with your money or online payments, be sure that your browser address line shows 'https' at the beginning.  Third, do not open attachments in emails that claim to be from one of your financial institutions.  Such attachments, if not truly from your account website, can install malware onto your computer.  Instead, go to the correct website and view the information there.  Finally, as always, have anti-malware or antivirus software installed, and be sure it is up to date.

A variation to online phishing is cold-call phishing (or "vishing").  A person supposedly from your credit card company or bank calls you to rectify some problem with your account and asks you to confirm your account number and PIN.  Or a recorded message asks you to call a tollfree number.  If you receive such a call, hang up and call the telephone number on the back of your credit card or on a credit card/bank statement.
 

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