What is Phishing? The Con Game of the Electronic World
Prevent Criminals from Tricking You into Revealing Sensitive Information

What is Phishing?
Phishing scams are insidious because they can access your most sensitive information. Social security numbers, bank accounts, addresses, credit card information, and even your most carefully guarded passwords are all vulnerable. Why? Because phishing fraud tricks you into putting that sensitive information directly into the hands of a criminal.

Phishing fraud comes in many variations, but the most common is an email, or even an instant message, that looks like it has been sent by a trusted financial institution such as your bank or an online money transfer service. The email tells you that there is a problem with your account, and gives you an official-looking link to use to log in and verify your information.

The trick is that the link actually sends you to a carefully-crafted imitation of your financial site. When you log in and enter your information, your passwords and all of your personal data are transmitted to criminals, who then use the data to log into your real account and empty it out or for other forms of identity theft.

Phishing Prevention
The good news is that successful phishing fraud requires your active participation. If you do not hand over your personal information, the hackers are helpless. Three ways to practice phishing prevention include:

1. Never click on a link in an email or instant message. Hackers can easily mask a fake link, making it look like it is going to the proper site when it is not. Instead, type the link into your browser window by hand.
2. Learn your financial institution’s security measures. PayPal, for example, will never send you an email that does not begin with your full name. If you receive an email with a salutation like, “Dear PayPal Member” you know it is a fake.
3. Monitor your credit rating closely. Keeping a careful eye on your credit score is the best way to learn if you have fallen victim to an identity scam. An ID Theft protection product from MyIDFix.com can alert you to identity problems immediately so that you can fix them before they get out of hand.
   
   My Recommended Source for Phishing Prevention:
   Identity theft is a frightening and costly threat to your family’s safety and financial security. For more information about phishing prevention and what you can do to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud, visit LifeLock.com today.