Is Someone Phishing For Your Information?

Phishing is a high-tech scam that deceives you into disclosing your credit card numbers, account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information to steal your identity.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), phishers send an email or pop-up message that claims to be from a business or organization that you deal with – for example, your Internet service provider (ISP), bank, online payment service, or even a government agency. The message usually says that you need to “update” or “validate” your account information. It might threaten some dire consequence if you don’t respond, like your account will be closed. The message directs you to a Web site that looks just like a legitimate organization’s site, but it isn’t.

As a general rule you should be careful about giving out your personal financial information over the Internet. Below is a list of recommendations that you can use to avoid becoming a victim of these scams.

• If you get an email or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply or click on the link in the message. Legitimate companies don’t ask for this information via email.
• Don’t email personal or financial information. Email is not a secure method of transmitting information. If you initiate the transaction and want to provide your personal information through an organization’s Web site, look for indicators that the site is secure, like a lock icon on the browser’s status bar (bottom of window) 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 too.
• Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to determine whether there are any 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.
• Use anti-virus software and keep it up to date. Some phishing emails contain software that can harm your computer or track your activities on the Internet without your knowledge.
• Be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files from emails you receive, regardless of who sent them.

Report suspicious activity to the FTC. If you get spam that is phishing for information, forward it to spam@uce.gov. If you think you’ve been scammed, contact www.ftc.gov, and then visit the FTC’s Identity Theft Web site at www.consumer.gov/idtheft to learn how to minimize your risk of damage from ID theft. Visit www.ftc.gov/spam to learn other ways to avoid email scams and deal with deceptive spam.