|
More advise
Don’t unplug your common sense when you switch on your computer. The 'phishing' fleet is out there on the Internet – and they want your money.
Be very careful when you open emails from unknown senders, as new ones appear all the time.
What is phishing?
Phishing is fraudulent online activity designed to fool victims into revealing personal information, such as passwords, credit card details, account user names and numbers, for criminal gain.
What do phishers do?
Phishers send out millions of emails that look as if they come from respectable companies. They can also pop pages in front of respectable Web sites that invite you to ‘verify your personal details’ – but the pop-up is nothing to do with the main site – it is a hoax.
They imitate trusted brand names and Web sites such as Lloyds TSB, Amazon, PayPal and eBay, in increasingly sophisticated ways. You can’t blame the victims, the cloned Web sites looks so real, and the emails are carefully pitched to grab your attention. More than 40 per cent of recipients fell for a recent CitiBank email phishing scam.
It used to be possible to spot a spoof email by the spelling mistakes and clumsy language. Not so any more.
The criminals routinely steal logos, language, content and code from respectable sites. The URL is ‘cloaked’ to seem authentic as well. It isn’t - the back end is very far from your trusted transactional site – probably in west Africa or eastern Europe.
What are the main types of phishing emails?
Social engineering: "During one of our regularly scheduled account verification procedures, we have detected a slight error in your billing information… "
Threatening: "If you do not take immediate action, your account will be closed down…"
Frightening: "We have noted an abnormally large payment from your account. Please fill in the form to verify that you authorise this payment…"
Phishers want you to believe that a company you use and trust to make financial transactions is acting in your best interests. If the email seems to come from a company you have contacted in the past, this is more likely to work. But you will probably have received emails of this kind purporting to be from US banks and other sites that you have never heard of, as the phishers target email addresses at random just as other spammers do.
How do I defend myself from phishing?
Your best defence is to keep your wits about you, and be deeply suspicious of any unsolicited email from anywhere. Do not click on live links, or insert any details into input fields in emails, pop-ups or Web pages if you are not sure where they come from.
Most legitimate organisations, including AOL, will state that they would never ask you for account name, password or any other personal information by email. If this is requested, delete the email immediately.
anti-spam filters and tools do help protect you from many of these emails, but you should still be wary of unsolicited email – even if it seems to come from sites you trust.
What the Banks Are Doing
The main banks have put together Bank Safe Online packed with tips about how you can protect yourself. You'll find all the information you need about Trojans and Money Mules, as well as phishing.
For us in the UK
Report any suspect email direct to Reports@banksafeonline.org.uk. The more you report, the better they can be eliminated as a threat.
|