Phishing
Scam
From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In
computing, phishing is a criminal activity using
social engineering techniques. Phishers attempt
to fraudulently acquire sensitive information,
such as passwords and credit card details, by
masquerading as a trustworthy person or business
in an electronic communication. Phishing is
typically carried out using email or an instant
message, although phone contact has been used
as well. Attempts to deal with the growing number
of reported phishing incidents include legislation,
user training, and technical measures.
There
are several variations but this is the basic
scenario:
You receive
an email from Paypal (or BankOne, CapitalOne,
or any other place you might have an account)
notifying you that your account has been compromised
or that you need to update your account information.
It will look like an official email and will
probably have the company's logo and will include
a convenient link to the website.
Example:
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run
The above
example is the correct link for Paypal's login
page. The problem is, it doesn't actually point
to that address. Go ahead, click it and see.
The underlying code actually points to a page
I created on my server. I could just as easily
have created a page identical to Paypal's login
page.
If you
take the link in the email, then input your
information on the site, it will be sent to
the crook who sent the email. You can imagine
the rest.
There's
good news though. By following one simple rule
you won't have any problems with phishing scams
and that is DON'T CLICK THE LINK IN
THE EMAIL. Close the email and go directly
to the site through your web browser as you
normally would. If there is a problem with your
account there will be a notice there.
I've
used Paypal as an example because so many people
have a Paypal account. I want to make it clear
that Paypal is in no way associated with this
illegal activity and makes every effort to combat
it and warn their customers. This type of scam
hurts Paypal too. I have a Paypal account and
regularly use it for safe and secure transactions.
You can too by following the simple rule DON'T
CLICK THE LINK!
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