No, it’s not a spelling mistake and it’s got nothing to do with Bing Crosby! Phishing happens when criminals (Phishers) attempt to fraudulently steal sensitive information such as passwords and credit card numbers from your computer. Although I prefer to concentrate on the positive things that computers and the internet bring, sometimes it’s important to discuss the negatives so we can best protect ourselves in the future.

How do they reel you in?
With the advent of the internet, more and more of us are managing our finances and purchasing items online. Unfortunatley, this creates more opportunities for fraud. Phishers send bogus emails which look like they’re from a real bank or online store such as Amazon.co.uk that request you to login to your account. The scam works by redirecting you to a bogus website that looks virtually identical to your bank or online store where your username and password can be stolen. The criminal subsequently uses the stolen usernames and passwords to access accounts fraudulently.

How can you protect yourself?
It’s simple. If you receive an email asking you to login to an online bank or store account, just delete it. Banks and online stores will NEVER ask you for usernames or passwords.

Phishing Part 2: The Download Scam
A lesser form of Phishing is where internet users receive a message, usually in a popup window, informing them that there is an ‘infection’ on their system and that they need to to download and pay for program to clean up the problem. My advice here is to ignore the message unless you know it’s from a well-known and reputable company. By running antivirus and anti-spyware programs on a regular basis, your system should be free from infections anyway. Anti-spyware program, Spybot - Search & Destroy, is particularly good at preventing this problem. See my article Get Free Computer Protection Now! for more details.

I hope this post helps you avoid these types of scams in the future. As always, please contact me if you have any questions.

Jon