Helping to build buyer confidence

What is Online Phisihing?

Do you receive suspicious emails asking you to update information for bank, Pay Pal and facebook?

“Phishing” is a form of Internet fraud that aims to steal valuable personal information such as credit cards, social security numbers, user IDs and passwords.

Usually a fake website is created that is similar to that of a legitimate organisation, typically a financial institution such as a bank

or insurance company. An email is sent requesting that the recipient access the fake website (which will usually be a replica of a trusted site) and enter their personal details, including security access codes. The page looks genuine, because it is easy to fake a valid web site. Any HTML page on the web can be modified to suit a phishing scheme.

Phishing e-mails are often sent to large lists of people, expecting that some percentage of the recipients will actually have an account with the real organisation. The term comes from "fishing," where bait is used to catch a fish. In phishing, e-mail is the bait.

Identifying Phishing emails

1. Do I have an Account? It may sound obvious but check to see if you even have an account with this company requesting the information. If you don't have an account with xxxx Bank then why would xxxx Bank send you an email that tells you to fix a problem with your account? He wouldn't. This will certainly be PHISHING email.

 

2. Check the URL and email address If you do have an account with the company, put your mouse pointer on the provided link (just hover, don't click!) and take a look at the URL at the bottom of your browser. is the the correct URL for the company in question? It may have xxxx Bank in it somewhere, but is it REALLY the normal URL you use to access xxxx Bank? As an example say xxxx Bank's real URL is http:\\xxxxbank.com and the URL you are provided in the email looks like http:\\nell243.xxxxbank.com\update_cc.html. I am sure you will agree the second one looks strange. That's because the top-level domain has been changed to one in the scam artist's control. xxxx wouldn't do that. If xxxxbank wanted to direct you to a specific page on his site the URL would look like http:\\xxxxbank.com\update_cc.html. So there ya go, PHISHING again! You can also check the senders email looking for similar clues

3. Check the grammer and spelling for errors Check for spelling errors, typos, stilted language and poor grammar. An email from a professional company should be pretty well written. Phishing email are generally not even close to professional looking. Occassionally some come pretty close, but usually you can tell they are not real by looking at the language closely.

4. if you are still not sure The vast majority of large banks and business that you will hold an account with will have a messages section in your account on their website. OPEN A NEW BROWSER window (do not click on the link in the email) go in to your account and check your messages. If it is genuine the message will be accessible directly from your account in the institutions website.