Online Phishers are out there – Don't get caught

What is Phishing?

Phishing is a scam tactic used to mask an email, popup, or legitimate website in attempt to steal your passwords, personal information or even steal your identity. Online phishing has grown to new levels with sneaky ways of fooling the every-day internet user.

Many web browsing programs have built in automatic phishing filters. Although filters are good at checking for phishing sites, users may not get a warning message letting them know they are on a phishing site until it is too late.

PC Tip: It is always a good practice to verify the spelling of a website that you are trying to access. Several phishing websites are based on scamming users by commonly misspelled words in the URL address for a website. Verify the source of an email before opening. The use of a phishing filter for your web browser is also suggested.

Once a phishing website is found it is no sure way of catching the person behind the computer screen.

Owners and webmasters of legitimate companies that find phishing sites masking their company site can take certain measures to "fix" the matter. Some of the measures include taking screen shots of the website and then emailing them to the webmaster of the hosting company of the phishing asking for an explanation. Others may send the email directly to the authorities. What about the common internet user who's information is as risk of being stolen due to a phishing site? They can follow suit as well.

Phishing scams are everywhere and it is no stopping them unless we all take action to guard ourselves when online.

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  • http://www.spywarebiz.com Doug Woodall

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