Beware of Phishing Expeditions

It is not uncommon these days to receive an email from a well-known, legitimate company alerting you to the fact that a recent online transaction had a problem. The email informs you that you will need to login to their website using your user name and password in order to rectify the problem. Since the email seems to be legitimate and the "from field" indicates that the email in fact, comes from the company, you click the link and login to your account.

You find out much later, unfortunately, that the website is bogus. It was created with the sole intent to steal your personal information. You have just been a victim of a "phishing" expedition.

Phishing (pronounced as "fishing") is the act of sending a deceptive email to lure a recipient to surrender their personal information. The intent of the phisher is disguise themselves as a legitimate company in order to fool the recipient into surrendering private information.

It is often not easy to spot an email that is phishing for information. The email will appear to be from a legitimate companyl. The "From" field of the e-mail will probably have the .com address of the company mentioned in the e-mail. The clickable link even looks like it will take you to the company's website. However, the site you arrive at is a fake and it's only purpose is to steal your information. The user name and password that you may enter will be stored and then used by the criminal at the legitimate site to gain access to your information.

These phishing emails are never harmless. The people behind these emails are serious about their criminal activities. They have spent a great deal of time in creating emails that look authentic. You need to be very cautious about all emails requesting personal information. Keep in mind that most legitimate companies will not send you an email asking you to login to your account.

You should be aware that the "From Field" in the email that you receive can easily be changed by the sender. The email will look like it is coming from a company that you are familiar with. However, looks can be deceiving. Keep in mind that the phisher will go all out in attempting to make their email look as legitimate as possible. They will usually use logos or images from the legitimate site. Finally, they usually include a clickable link that the recipient can follow to conveniently update their information.

One way to check the legitimacy of the link is to point at the link with your mouse and observe the address in the bottom left hand screen of your computer. The actual website address to which you are being directed will be revealed here. It is a quick and easy way to check if you are being directed to a legitimate site. The address revealed is usually fairly long and complicated. For example, if they were masquerading as Amazon, rather than an address such as www.amazon.com/login, it could be something like www.amazon.mqrs.com/?login/142647/4598.php

Never click the links within the text of the fraudulent e-mail. As well, you should always delete the e-mail immediately. Once you have deleted the e-mail, empty the trash box in your e-mail accounts as well. If you are truly concerned that you are missing an important notice regarding one of your accounts, then type the full URL address of the website into your browser. You can then be confident that you are, in fact, being directed to the true and legitimate website. You can also notify security at the legitimate company and let them know that you have received a "phishing" email.

Article Source: http://www.a1-articledirectory.com

Bill Westergate is a computer consultant who often writes on technology topics. For free spyware resources visit Spyware Removal Free or get NoAdware for free and rid your computer of destructive adware and spyware.

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