A phishing scam is a name for an electronic criminal process of acquiring a victim’s sensitive personal information for the purposes of identity theft or credit fraud. Typically, a phishing scam is carried out in email form, where scammers impersonate an official bank or company with a message containing fraudulent URLs and phone numbers, which victims are encouraged to navigate to or dial so that they can subsequently (and unwittingly) hand over their personal information. Often, scammers tell victims that their account has been hacked or their bank account is overdrawn, intimidating victims into quick action.
As a rule of thumb, be wary of any request you receive in your email inbox that asks for personal information like account numbers, social security numbers, passwords, or any other identifying or financial information. Financial institutions and other service providers are not likely to use the email format to request this type of information.
If you receive any message in your email mailbox asking for any type of information, a healthy level of suspicion is certainly warranted. Below you will find a collection of tips that will help you avoid the threat of phishing scams.
Think Critically
If you receive an email asking you to “confirm” or otherwise provide personal information, read the note carefully. Check for red flags like grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, or otherwise confusing language. Then ask yourself a few critical questions:
- Do I usually receive email messages from this company?
- Have I submitted my email address to this company or financial institution?
- Is the information they are communicating accurate and relevant to my account?
Call, Don’t Click
As a security precaution, any time you receive an email from a financial institution or company asking for your personal information, look up the company’s telephone number from an independent directory and call them directly. Should the email you have received (which you suspect as potentially fraudulent) provide you with a phone number, do not call this number, as it may lead to an agent working for the scammer waiting to collect your personal information. Do not click on any URLs that are communicated in the email, as they may lead to artificial websites that collect personal information for criminal purposes.
Cover Your Bases
If you suspect that an email may be a phishing scam, make a note of the company or financial institution from which the email purports to be from, and, after reading the email carefully and thoroughly to confirm your suspicions, delete the email from your mailbox. Then, contact the company or financial institution through their official phone number or website (manually type the website address into your browser, and find out the official number from an independent directory) and ask if they have been attempting to contact you. If they haven’t, inform them that you have received a fraudulent email attempting to impersonate them.
Monitor your Credit
Monitoring your credit is a great way to keep track of your finances and general financial identity. You can obtain one free credit report per year form the major bureaus, and for a small fee you can obtain these reports more frequently.
With online banking, your spending and deposit history can be easily tracked. Check your account history often to make sure that only transactions authorized by you have been carried out. Phishing scams can often complete their processes without you realizing you have been attacked, so it is important to monitor your banking and credit history frequently to make sure everything is up to date and accurate.
For more information on keeping your finances and your overall reputation safe online, visit www.ReputationDefender.com.
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