Protection From Phishing Sites
If you are a computer user and have access to the internet then you need to be aware of all of the risks that you can be exposed to. One of the biggest risks on the internet is the threat of identity theft. This is where your identity is stolen using numerous techniques.
One way of doing this is for criminals to use phishing emails and sites to steal the information from you.
What Is A Phishing Email?
Phishing is one of the most worrying things which can happen on the internet. Phishing is when a phony site sets itself up to look exactly like a legitimate site in order to trick you into giving out your secret information.
Phishing isn't mentioned as much as Spyware and computer viruses, but that doesn't mean that it's any less of a threat. Phishing is actually a very serious problem which all internet users need to be fully aware of. If you fall for one of these traps then you could end up having to pay for it through the nose.
How Phishing Normally Begins
A phishing attack will normally begin with you receiving an email from your bank or other trusted organization. They will tell you that the security of your account is compromised and that you need to confirm your identity.
Many people immediately trust these emails because they seem to come from their bank. After all, who would know which bank you are with? The answer is that they don't. The way that this scam works is to send out exactly the same email to hundreds of people on the off chance that they have this bank account.
Everything seems above board and many people will click on the links to add this necessary information. It doesn't cross people's minds that this could be a false email and they believe that the email is genuine. This means that they don't have any problem with clicking on the links.
These criminals can use the same idea to get their hands on all sorts of personal information. They can use it to get your security questions, your bank account numbers and even your passwords. You may believe that you are improving the security of your account but in actual fact you are compromising it.
Preventing Phishing
Hopefully by now you realize what a huge risk phishing can be and why it's so important to do everything you can to prevent it. If you fall for a phishing email and enter your details then it could take you a very long time to resolve the problem.
You must check the authenticity of the email. Read it, does it sound like the language your bank would normally use? Are there any spelling mistakes?
Right click on any of the links and click properties to take a look where they really direct you to. Also look at the domain name, is it exactly the same as your bank or is it slightly different?
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