How Phishing Scams Really Work
Phishing scams have been around for a long time even though the term phishing is quite new. Phishing is where criminals trick you into giving them your personal information by pretending to be someone they're not.
Phishing can happen over the phone but it's much more common on the internet. Web based crimes are becoming more widespread because the criminals don't have to come face to face with their victims.
Identity Theft
The most regular result of a phishing attack is to have your identity stolen. Identity theft is an ever growing crime and you need to be aware of it.
You won't ever tell anyone your credit card details if they are going to spend your money. However, the phishers are very skilled at tricking you into giving them this information. You probably won't have any idea that your credit card has been cloned until you get calls from angry lenders demanding their money.
How Does Phishing Work?
Phishing will start when you receive an email from a bank or other trusted organization. They will normally tell you that in order to update the security of your account they need to ask a series of questions.
Simple scams request you to send this information in an email message. This doesn't catch that many people. However, the ones with links to official looking websites work very well. These are why you must be very careful when clicking on any links.
It's so easy for anyone to make websites these days that criminals can clone your banks website. Instead of giving the information to your bank it will instead steal the details. This will give them everything they need to spend your money for you.
Avoiding Phishing
If you are ever contacted by your bank then phone them up to find out what is going on. If you have to prove your ID it's always better to go into the branch. It might be a little inconvenient, however it will certainly be worth it.
You must be careful when clicking on links in email messages because these might not be what they seem. Email isn't secure and it's very easy to create fake links which really direct visitors to somewhere else.
Phishing is a very damaging and worrying crime that you need to be aware of. It's important that you follow these few simple tips to protect yourself from phishing attacks. Use your common sense and you should be able to avoid these scams.
Post a comment