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Phishing Fraud Scams
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Phishing Alert - IRS Refund Scam
IRS Issues 'Phishing' Warning
Recipients are given a Web link, which leads to a phony IRS site. Victims are asked for information including passwords, account numbers, Social Security numbers and credit card numbers. PhishingPhising involves attempts to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business in an apparently official electronic communication, such as an email or an instant message.
Once this information is acquired, the phishers may use a person's details to create fake accounts in a victim's name, ruin a victim's credit, or even prevent victims from accessing their own accounts. It is estimated that between May 2004 and May 2005, approximately 1.2 million computer users in the United States suffered losses caused by phishing, totaling approximately $929 million USD. U.S. businesses lose an estimated $2 billion USD a year as their clients become victims How NOT To Get Hooked By A Phsihing Scam
“We suspect an unauthorized transaction on
your account.
“During our regular verification of
accounts, we couldn’t verify your information. Have you received email with a similar message? It's a scam called phishing - It involves Internet fraudsters who send spam or pop-up messages to lure personal information (credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information) from unsuspecting victims. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, phishers send an email or pop-up message that claims to be from a business or organization that you may deal with — for example, an Internet service provider (ISP), bank, online payment service, or even a government agency. The message may ask you to “update,” “validate,” or “confirm” your account information. Some phishing emails 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.
Anti-PhishingSeveral anti-phishing software programs are available. The programs work by identifying phishing contents on websites and emails; anti-phishing software may be integrated with web browsers and email clients as a toolbar that displays the real domain name for the visiting website. Spam filters also help protect users from phishers, because they reduce the number of phishing-related emails that users receive. Many organizations, including Bank of America, have introduced a feature called challenge questions. Challenge questions ask the user for information, which would only be known to the user and the bank. Many sites have also added verification tools that allow users to see a secret image (a simple form of two-way authentication) that the user selected in advance; if the image does not appear, then the site is not legitimate Phishing Fraud Scams News
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