Spy Review

What is a phishing email?

A phishing email is an email which lands in your inbox and asks for sensitive personal data like bank account details, user names, passwords and other security information which the phisher can then use to steal your identity or your money. The email may purportedly come from banks, financial institutions or even friends whose addresses and identities have been mined from data mining sources or even your email address book.

Occasionally these emails may come from social networking sites which are a great source of information for various purposes, often nefarious or may come from supposedly trusted websites like Microsoft, eBay, Paypal or others, though it is not the web site which is sending the emails.

Here you can see screenshots of how a fake email but purported to be from Paypal may read and then there are screenshots of a fake Paypal login page and credit card detail form.

How does it work?

Very often the phishing email tells you to click on a link which will take you to a website which looks exactly like that of your bank or other website and enter data. The email will have already lured you by saying that data has been lost, corrupted or you just need to verify the data to prevent unauthorized transactions from taking place. And they may use pressure tactics saying that your account will be closed if you don’t do this.

Sometimes the email will ask you to phone a free number, which will be a free hotline number – beware it will be fake – and will ask you information orally.

While often the emails look extremely professional with the right logos and all that, sometimes the actual wording will be in improper or bad English with spelling and grammar mistakes. These are easier to spot.

What you should do to secure yourself

If you do receive an email from your bank, the best thing would be to call them up and ask them if they are actually asking for any such information because they almost never will. If you have secure anti virus software then you may go directly (by typing in the bank’s website address) and check with them through email. Never, never click on the link which is provided in the phishing email. At best you could be the victim of a virus attack at the worst, your identity will be stolen and your monies, too.

There are settings in most email providers which allow emails only from safe sources, do not allow mail to be sent as if it is coming from you and tell you if the mail may have a virus – that is if your anti-virus does not work. If you use Internet Explorer 8, it has a SmartScreen Filter to help detect unsafe and potentially unsafe Web sites as you browse.

The latest anti-virus software like McCafee, Norton and BitDefender and others all come with anti spyware, malware, anti spam and anti phishing add-ons which will lower your risk of being a victim of email fraud. If you suspect that you have inadvertently given your credit card/bank account details, call up the company immediately and tell them. Report to the appropriate authorities in your part of the world.

Make sure you run updates on Windows regularly as it will identify new forms spyware which it will detect and warn you about when you browse the Internet.

If you think you’ve become a victim you should take action early and as soon as possible. Below are some contact details that you can get in touch with to report violations.

Contact:

In the UK contact www. banksafeonline.org.uk, www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk or phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk or contact your bank or credit card issuer directly.

In the US, contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report the situation, whether online or by telephone toll-free at 1-877-ID THEFT (877-438-4338) or TDD at 202-326-2502. If you are a victim of credit card fraud contact:
TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374- 0241
Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013

https://www.paypal.com/helpcenter/main.jsp;jsessionid=0JyNK4tXr9CGtL10Gk06kqhpB2t5pXBhyHfk6KlvYcpvp1yxc5Tp!2015389319?locale=en_GB&_dyncharset=UTF-8&countrycode=US&cmd=_help&serverInstance=9016&t=solutionTab&ft=searchTab&ps=solutionPanels&solutionId=17210&isSrch=Yes
http://www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/websites/idtheft.html#whatifvictim
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/phishing/symptoms.aspx
http://www.bankofscotland-international.com/security/phishing.asp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4879468.stm
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/ContactOrDealWithHMRC/DG_10014956