Update 05/11/2009: The recent spate of Phishing e-mails warrants reposting the following, originally published February 15, 2006.
February 15, 2006
As many are aware there have been recent news reports locally and nationally
about bank records being compromised. This news is also viewed by criminals as an opportunity to exploit people's fears. Thus there is an increase in the amount and methods of Phishing and Pharming scams.
The act of sending an e-mail or Instant Message (IM) 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. The e-mail or IM directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords, credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is counterfeit and set up only to steal the user's information.
You recently may have received an e-mail warning that your Visa card information was lost or stolen, or otherwise compromised.
The subject of the message may have read as follows: "Attention! Several VISA Credit Card bases have been LOST!" from visacard@visa.com. Other variations of the subject or sender may also appear, but the message will be similar.
" Do not click on any of the link(s) within the e-mail message.
" Promptly delete the message. This e-mail is not from Visa.
In the future, you may receive similar e-mails or an Instant Message (if you subscribe to a service) asking you to click on a web link, and enter private and confidential information.
The sender (From:) can be anyone. The page that appears might have official logos, and look like a financial institution or even a government organization. In many cases they appear to be identical to the real web site.
Call your institution or individual, with previously know contacts, to confirm they have sent the e-mail or IM. Never follow links in e-mail or IM messages unless you are absolutely confident of the sender.
Financial institutions and government organizations will not ask you to enter private information on a web page that was followed from an e-mail or IM.
Most official e-mails will not contain run-on sentences, misspellings, slang or disparaging comments, and will be easy to read and will generally address you by name. The act of "phishing" is a criminal attempt to steal private information.
Here are some links that may be useful and offer additional information:
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