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How NOT To Get Hooked By A Phsihing Scam

“We suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account.
To ensure that your account is not compromised,
please click the link below and confirm your identity.”

“During our regular verification of accounts, we couldn’t verify your information.
Please click here to update and 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-Phishing

Several 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.


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