Phishing
Ami Kastner

What is Phishing? According to www.webopedia.com, the technical definition of phishing is "The act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft." What this means is that a scammer will contact consumers via email under the impression that they are a legitimate company such as a credit card company, financial firm, bank, eBay, AOL, or a government agency. Normally, consumers are sent a message that their account information needs to be updated or their account will be closed or suspended. The email is virtually impossible to detect as fraudulent because the information contained within it is normally copied from genuine emails. The consumer is then provided a link within the email that directs him/her to a website that looks authentic. The consumer is prompted for information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, account numbers, passwords, and any other personal information the scammer wishes to retrieve.

Once the criminal has obtained personal information, he or she can make charges to the victim's credit cards, apply for credit cards or loans in the victim's name, or even apply for a mortgage. In more extreme cases, some victims have even had businesses open in their names. It only takes minutes for the fraud to occur, but it can take months or sometimes years to erase the fraud from a credit report not to mention getting everything straightened out with financial companies, taking care of the overdraft charges from the bank, and closing all accounts and then trying to reopen new ones.

The results of phishing can be quite substantial and range from identity theft to financial losses. In 2004, it was estimated that banks and credit card companies suffered a direct loss of $1.2 billion dollars due to phishing. Unfortunately antivirus software, firewalls, and antispyware packages do not protect consumers from phishing and email fraud.

However, there are many ways to prevent being taken advantage of by an online criminal. If you receive an email from what looks like a legitimate company telling you your information needs to be updated, look for a telephone number within the email or the website. Call the number and verify that it is valid. When reading the email, look for personalization. Online scammers normally send out these emails in large quantities so there will not be any personalization within the email. If you receive a suspicious email, contact the company it supposedly came from and let them know so they may take the proper steps to stop the online criminal. Always monitor credit card statements and bank statements. Many criminals will make small charges so they have less chance of being detected. Try to keep credit card information and such off of your hard drive so hackers cannot get to it.

As criminals get savvier with their phishing schemes, there are also other schemes they are conducting to retrieve personal information. Ads that may pop up for a new lower price for an item or for a sweepstakes more than likely are not legitimate either. Many of these links download spyware onto a machine once they are clicked. It takes longer for criminals to retrieve the information they are looking for, but once they do obtain it, the fraud begins. Never click on an image or link in a suspicious email.

Always be careful when entering personal information on the internet. If a company has contacted you to update information, do some research before filling in any forms. Criminals only need a couple of pieces of information to start committing fraud. It is much easier to do a little bit of research than to spend the time and money to undo the consequences of identity theft.

If you have questions regarding phishing or your safety on the internet, please call Drake Hardware & Software at 319.752.1155.