 |
|
Five Ways to Avoid Being Hooked by the Phishing Scam.
Do not ever respond to an email that has seemingly come from your credit card company, bank, or other financial institution with which you might have a relationship. There are many phishing scams out there that will use these emails. They will say that there is a problem with your account and that to fix it; you must click on a link they send you. They will even go as far as to threaten you with closing the account or calling the credit bureau on you if you ignore them. No matter what you will not want to click on any links. Don’t call the number they offer you either. Instead, call the number you usually do for the bank and talk to someone there. Tell them about the email and what it asks you to do. In almost all cases, they will tell you it is a scam and will thank you for letting them know about it. The people who put together phishing scams are sly with their emails, so always double check with your financial institute any emails that you get from them requesting information or asking you to click on a link. Secondly, keep private personal information just that; private. Do not ever give out your bank account information, credit card numbers, PIN numbers, social security number, or any personally identifying information to anyone asking for it via email. Legitimate companies understand the need to keep personal information private and will never ask you to email such information. In addition, if a company has issued a PIN for some reason, they will never ask you to reveal that number to any of their employees. Anyone who would for any reason need to know that information will be able to get it from the system. Phishing scams are counting on your willingness to give such information over email, so simply don’t do it. If for some reason a company you work with is asking you to do that, then you may want to consider finding a different financial institute with which to do your business. Do not ever click on the link in an email to buy something. The email may very well look like it came from a department store you use. However, many phishing scams actually take real URL’s and change them ever so slightly to make them look like the real ones. To protect yourself, if you see something in an email that asks you to click a link to buy it, type in the URL yourself. If it is a department store with which you are familiar, then type in the URL you usually use to work with them, if you don’t know it then look it up. By not clicking in the email, you can very simply save yourself a very big mess. Fourth, report emails you find to be phishing emails. When you get one that is imitating a bank or business, forward that email to the institution. Most banks or companies will have a postmaster@ their URL as an email to receive these reports. The companies will often be able to warn other customers or even track down and pursue action against those responsible. Lastly, if you get a phishing email and it really worries you, if it is one that seems particularly threatening or seems to be working on a broad scale, then report it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center. It is a government agency that is a joint project between the FBI and National White Collar Crime Center. They can help to shut down or prosecute those who are particularly threatening. Massive Profits are being made from Online Auctions. Learn how to harness the Money Making Power of eBay from a Real Powerseller. Visit our daily blog, "Auction Profit Tips", get a FREE gift and learn dozens of eBay money making tips, tricks and hints. bzh45qr Article Source: http://AuctionProfitTips.NET | |
