Phishing, Pronounced Fishing
This scam is growing by leaps and bounds and is costing unsuspecting users a lot of money!
Don't be a victim, keep informed! Remember, DON'T click on links in emails from anyone claiming to be a financial institution!
There is a new variant of phishing out there and this one could be the worst kind of malware ever! For complete details check SpywareInfo's site, Yet Another Phishing Trip
This is really criminal! Phishing is reeling in a lot of innocent people and stealing their identities along with all their money. This could be a division of organized crime or a method of getting money for terrorists!
Most of us think we are pretty savvy about stuff, especially what we get in our inboxes because of all the spam we receive. Sometimes we can be fooled though, so we need to educate ourselves to be really skeptical and not to trust anything until it is verified.
I received an email purporting to be from eBay. I have bought a few items from eBay, so I do have a login and password. I haven't put up anything for sale there and probably won't, either. I had already heard about 'phishing', so I wasn't surprised when I received the email. (I made a copy so you can see what it looked like, just click on the screenshot link to get the big picture.)
Screenshot The email.
If you looked at the screenshot , you probably noticed the link to go to the website to 'update' my information. Curiosity got the best of me so I clicked the link. (Don't do this!) Below is what I found.
Screenshot The 'phish'.
I think eBay's web address is http://www.ebay.com. However, this is what came up:
Screenshot The web address for the 'phish'.
Just so you know, Phishing isn't limited to emails for eBay. You could get one saying from Citibank or any other financial institution. A legitimate site has your information already and will NOT send you an email asking for personal details as shown in the screenshot above.
It seems that phishing is taking a new turn and NOT for the better! Just read this article on PC World.
FraudEliminator prevents users from accessing known fraud and phishing websites, and employs advanced artificial intelligence that can recognize and block all yet-undiscovered fraud sites. Free! For Internet Explorer!
To insult to injury, now that a lot of computer users are aware of
phishing attempts, there is a new ploy called 'Vishing' to try to steal a
user's ID and steal them blind. Better check out this article,
Vishing Joins Phishing as Security Threat.