Understanding Phishing
What Is Phishing?
Phishing is an attempt to trick someone into giving away personal
information using the Internet by pretending to be a well-known
company or organisation.
For example, a typical phishing technique involves e-mailing people
and pretending to be a bank, and asking the recipients to enter
their bank details.
According to the
International Anti-Phishing Working Group, phishers are able to
convince up to 5% of their targets to give them personal information. Other studies indicate that phising scams are 20% to 23% successful at obtaining personal data from unsuspecting public!
How To Avoid Phishing
Normally you can avoid being "phished" by following three simple steps:
-
Be suspicious of any e-mail with urgent requests for personal
financial information.
-
Do not click on links in an e-mail to go to a web page. Type
in the
web address by hand into your
web browser.
-
If you are in any doubt about a possible phishing attack, ring the
company that the e-mail claims to be from at a number
you already have (do not use any numbers given in the e-mail).
However, the Fair Trade Authority has developed a sophisticated Phishing Detector which tells you if an email pretending to come from you bank, PayPal, eBay, eGold and many financial institutions is genuine or phishing. This little piece of software recognizes 99% of phishing emails and gives you peace of mind about online identity theft. You can read more about it and download it for free, visiting the Phishing Detector Center.
How To Report Phishing
If you think you have been caught by a phishing attack, contact either
of these two organisations:
-
The company that the e-mail claims to be from at a number you already have
(do not use any numbers given in the e-mail).
-
Your local authorities.
or email us at phishing@fairtradeauthority.com (Keep in mind that SPAM will not be tolerated).
Below you can find a list of useful links to common phishing scams, with email samples.
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