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Phishing – Not The Activity You Think

It used to be that when someone said they were going fishing it conjured up images of a quiet afternoon where the only thing that got caught was a fish. In techno-speak, fishing with a ‘ph’, means that you are the one who gets snagged. 

In the 12 months from April of 2003 to April 2004, phishing victims reported losses of $1.2 billion as a result of identity theft fraud. This newest attack on consumers is one of the most damaging forms of identity theft and is growing at an alarming rate. The scam involves emails that convince people to provide personal information, including passwords and credit card numbers, under the guise of being solicited from a legitimate company.

The consumer typically receives an email with a subject line that sounds legitimate, but causes alarm so that it will be opened immediately. It may say something like, “Account Transaction Verification”, “Your PayPal Account May Be Suspended”, or “Bank of America Fraud Unit”. Once opened the email it looks exactly like the legitimate sites. These scam artists duplicate the legitimate sites then proclaim that the only way to keep the account active, or to prevent theft of the account, the account owner will need to verify that they are the owner of the account by providing the account numbers and passwords for the account. 

These phishing sites duplicate the websites of most major banks, credit unions, PayPal, Ebay, or credit card companies. Your financial institution will never request such information via internet. If such an email lands in your account you can do one of three things. First, you can just delete it, next you can go to the website of the legitimate company being tagged by the thieves and report the contact. Lastly, if you have reason to believe the message may actually be a legitimate request look up the number and call the institution to verify the information request.

Don’t make yourself an easy target, be on the look-out for scams that seek to drain your financial resources.

Skimming Phishing Glossary - Definitions.

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