Phishing-Examples and Prevention Methods

Example of Phishing!!!!

What is phishing? Phishing is not really new and it is a form of identity theft that used to be done over the telephone but nowadays usually made through email, to steal your personal information. Phishing e-mail usually appears sending from well-known organization such as eBay and PayPal. The e-mail usually direct the users to visit a website to update information, for example credit card number, bank account number, password, however, when u do so, it is actually lead the users to a fake page that set up to steal their information.

For example, in year 2003, many eBay customers received e-mail claiming that the users account was about to suspended and restricted and have to click the link that provided to update their credit card information. In fact, the link was linking to a fake web page looked just like eBay's home page and incorporated all the eBay internal links. It was a prime example of phishing. Another example is Paypal phish spelling mistakes in the e-mail and the presence of an IP address in the link are both clues that this is a phishing attempt.

There are some ways we can get hook by phising scam. The most directive way is do not reply the e-mail which is asking for financial information. We also have to beware some scammers use Voice over Internet Protocol technology to access user’s information when they make a call. Users can call the number on your financial statements or on the back of the credit card when they need to contact the organization. Besides that, regular update anti-virus and anti-spyware software, as well as a firewall is also a must to prevent some phishing emails contain software that can harm your computer and internet activities.

On the same time, also have to be caution when opening the attachment and downloading files from e-mail because it might contains virus that weaken the computer. We also needed to review credit card and bank account statements as soon as we receive them to check for unauthorized charges. If users found that they have been scammed, they can complaint at ftc.gov, and then visit the FTC's Identity Theft website at ftc.gov/idtheft. They can become victims of identity theft. If an identity thief is opening credit accounts in the user’s name, these new accounts are likely to show up on the credit report. Therefore, all internet users have to beware the phishing e-mail by recognizing it through the example above and practice the prevention mentioned above to reduce the phishing risk.