From my CU...
Email Phishing Scams
posted Jan 25, 2005
Consumers have seen an uprising of spam that inundates their inboxes, including email phishing* scams. In 2004 businesses have received a dramatic increase in reports of phishing scams. The most targeted industry for phishing attacks is Financial Services. While online banking and e-commerce is very safe, as a general rule you should be careful about giving out your personal information over the Internet.
Phishing is the act of sending an email to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information for the use of identity theft. The email directs the user to visit a web site where they are asked to update personal information such as passwords, credit card numbers, social security, and bank account numbers that the legitimate organization already has.
Several steps can be taken to protect your personal information.
* Be cautious of any email that includes requests for personal information
* Do not use links in any unsolicited emails to get to a web page
* Always use secure web sites when submitting any personal information. To make sure the website you are using is secure check the beginning of the address on your address bar. If secure, it will begin with
https:// rather than
If you suspect you can also contact the Federal Trade Commission by emailing
spam@uce.gov or the Internet Fraud Complaint Center of the FBI at
www.ifccfbi. gov.
*When forwarding fraudulent email always include the entire original email with its original header information intact.
