Cyber Crooks Go "Phishing"

© Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved

http://www.thenetreporter.com

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"Phishing," the latest craze among online evil-doers, has

nothing to do with sitting at the end of a dock on a sunny

afternoon dangling a worm to entice hungry catfish.



But, if you take their bait, this new breed of online con

artist will hook you, reel you in, and take you for every

dollar you have... or worse.



"Phishing" describes a combination of techniques used by

cyber crooks to bait people into giving up sensitive

personal data such as credit card numbers, social security

numbers, bank account numbers, dates of birth and more.



Their techniques work so well that, according to

FraudWatchInternational.com, "phishing" rates as the

fastest growing scam on the Internet.



Here's the basic pattern for a "phishing" scam...



You receive a very official email that appears to originate

from a legitimate source, such as a bank, eBay, PayPal,

a major retailer, or some other well known entity.



In the email it tells you that something bad is about to

happen unless you act quickly.



Typically it tells you that your account is about to get

closed, that someone appears to have stolen your identity,

or even that someone opened a fraudulent account using your

name.



In order to help straighten everything out, you need to

click a link in the email and provide some basic account

information so they can verify your identity and then give

you additional details so you can help get everything

cleared up.



Once you give up your information... it's all over but the

crying!



After getting your information, these cyber-bandits can

empty your bank accounts, deplete your PayPal accounts, run

up your credit card balances, open new credit accounts,

assume your identity and much worse.



An especially disturbing new variation of this scam

specifically targets online business owners and affiliate

marketers.



In this con, the scammer's email informs you that they've

just sent $1,219.43 (or a similar big but believable

amount) in affiliate commissions to you via PayPal.



They need you to log into your PayPal account to verify

receipt of the money and then email them back to confirm

you got it.



Since you're so excited at the possibility of an unexpected

pay day, you click the link to go to PayPal, log in, and

BANG! They have your PayPal login information and can empty

your account.



This new "phishing" style scam works extremely well for 2

basic reasons.



First, by exploiting your sense of urgency created by fear

or greed, crooks get you to click the link and give them

your information without thinking.



Second, the scammers use a variety of cloaking and spoofing

techniques to make their emails and websites appear totally

legitimate, making it extremely hard to spot a fake website,

especially when they've first whipped you into an emotional

frenzy.



The good news, however, is that you can protect yourself

relatively easily against this type of cyber-crime with

basic software and common sense.



Most of these scams get delivered to you via Spam

(unsolicited email), so a good spam blocker will cut down

on many of them even making it to your inbox.



If you receive an email that looks legitimate and you want

to respond, Stop - Wait - Think!



Verify all phone numbers with a physical phone book or

online phone directory like www.Verizon.com or

www.ATT.com/directory/ before calling.



Look for spelling and grammatical errors that make it look

like someone who doesn't speak English or your native

language very well wrote it.



Never click the link provided in the email, but go directly

to the website by typing in the main address of the site

yourself (example: www.paypal.com or www.ebay.com).



Forward the email to the main email address of the website

(example: support@paypal.com) or call the customer service

number on the main website you typed in yourself and ask if

it is in fact legitimate.



Above all remember this:



Your bank, credit card company, PayPal, eBay and anyone

else you deal with online already knows your account

number, username, password or any other account specific

information.



They don't need to email you for ANY reason to ask you to

confirm your information -- so NEVER respond to email

requests for your account or personal details.



About the Author:



Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the

co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how

to use fr-e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted

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