Phishing Scam Dangers And Precautions You Can Take
With identity theft affecting millions of people each year, and those numbers simply continue to rise every passing year, it is absolutely vital that people have an understanding of how to protect themselves against these criminals that will come up with all kinds of ways to cheat and steal your money and identity from you.
That being said, we are going to cover the primary way that criminals have been stealing personal information online, the phishing scam.
First, let us take a look at just what this kind of scam is, so that you can learn to identify it and avoid it. Primarily it comes in the form of an email that looks like it has been sent to you by a well established and respected company that you are a part of, such as Facebook, your local credit union, even Ebay or Paypal.
This is where the trouble starts, because the criminals go to great pains to make these emails look legitimate, so many people assume it has come from that business or institution. However, there are some things that you can look for and simply be aware of, that can help you avoid giving your information to the wrong people. Most importantly, you should always be cautious when it comes to emails you receive from any company or institution that you are a part of. Make sure that you know what their policies are in regards to what they will ask you for, because many will never ask you for your personal information in an email. Another thing you can always do, is if you are asked to go to a particular site, make sure to type in the primary website address in the address bar, rather than click on any link in the email. NEVER click any link in an email like this. If the company or institution you're familiar or associated with actually needs you to contact them, it can be done through their site. A couple of other things to be aware of - first, most of these kinds of emails are generally caught by the spam filter that comes with most email account providers. However, none of these programs are going to be able to keep 100% of those malicious phishing scam messages from getting to you, so be diligent in taking care when dealing with any emails. And finally, here is a list of a number of well respected companies and institutions whose customers and users have been affected by these kinds of scams so that you can fully appreciate and understand how dangerous these criminals can be - the Internal Revenue Service, Bank of America, Capital One, Twitter, Ebay, Paypal and Hotmail.
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