Identity theft and phishing on the internet

Electronic mail scams cost people billions of dollars per year in financial losses. People who browse the World Wide Web on a regular basis ought to be watchful to avoid becoming victims of Internet scammers. A somewhat modern tool utilized by identity theft scammers is the notion of "phishing" where a seemingly legitimate e-mail message tries to encourage someone to submit financial information over the World Wide Web.

Suspicious e-mail messages frequently contain a link which the recipient may click to fix the issue with their account. E-mail notices often tell the recipient that some security breakdown has taken place with his or her account, and that action must be taken by the recipient to fix the crisis. E-mail notices that seem to be from financial organizations, Internet store Amazon or auction site Ebay show up in e-mail inboxes all the time. There's just one problem with that - not a word contained in the notice is real.

How can a consumer who is genuinely worried about the security of his or her personal information tell a real message from a fraudulent one? The messages, at least on their surface, frequently look to be real. Opportunists on the Internet, resolved to access vital personal information that can be exploited, are sending out e-mail messages by the millions every day, aimed at clients of well-known financial companies with real-looking concerns. Unsolicited notices from financial institutions are an example of "phishing", a popular modern tool among identity theft thieves. The majority of of these missives hint at dire outcomes for any person who ignores them, cancelation of the account being the most prevalent.
 

There are several clues to whether a notice is a phishing expedition or a real one.

• Watch out for misspellings. A large number of of these hackers are located in foreign countries, where English is not the usual language. Often the messages, which look OK on first examination, are full of strangely misspelled words and improper grammar.
• One clue that suggests a fake message will appear in the greeting. Amazon, eBay, PayPal, or any other business institution would more than likely address by name, not by "Dear customer." If you engage in business with a company, they probably know your name, and they would use your name in the greeting. "Dear customer" would be an unusual greeting for a real client of a business to receive in an e-mail message.
• Examine the links themselves in the e-mail notice. The link may say "www.paypal.com" but the actual address may be a string of numbers, such as "235.34.56.22" or a similar Uniform Resource Locator, or URL to the real one. Look for links that seem to direct somewhere other than where they really go. If you move your mouse over a link in an electronic mail message, many, if not most e-mail programs will show you the Uniform Resource Locator, or URL or Web address to which the link goes. Often in phishing notices, what the link says and where the link goes are two completely different things.

Contact companies with whom you do business by going to their Web site, or get in touch with them on the telephone if you have any concerns. Don't reply to electronic mail messages that may or may not have come from the real company. It is better to be safe than sorry, and it benefits you to be suspicious. If you are not, then you might turn out to be the latest victim of financial crimes. The answer to avoiding being victimized in a phishing scam is not to respond to such notices. Should you do business with a bank, Internet payment company, credit card company or eBay, and you need to make contact with them, do so directly.