A phishing email is a fake email sent to millions of email addresses by a cyber-criminal. The fake email, supposedly from your financial institution, urges you, entices you, to go to their website via the link provided. The email looks authentic. When you click on the link, it takes you to the bank's website - or so you think, because the website looks authentic. (Do you see a theme here?) And, of course, the first thing you must do is enter your account number and password.
And after you do, your bank account is cleaned out, your credit card is used by thieves, and, perhaps, your entire identity is stolen because the email was a fake, and you just gave criminals your account number and the password to your account.
Banks, credit card companies, and other financial institutions seldom send out unsolicited emails that contain links to their websites. But a few do. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission recommends that you never click on links in unsolicited emails regarding financial accounts. We suggest you delete the email without even opening it.
Let's talk about your email address for a moment. Part of the problem is that you are giving it out too freely. Do not give out your email address just because somebody asks for it. Every company in the world wants your email address so they can send you marketing emails. Just say NO. If your pest control company asked for your social security number, would you give it to them? Of course not. Treat your email address like your social security number: only give it out if you absolutely must. Otherwise, just say "No thanks."
What about all of the companies that urge you to sign up for online access? First, don't sign up unless being able to view your account online is a benefit to you, and you think at some time you will want to do it. Secondly, if you do sign up, do not leave the company's website until you have opted out of receiving any marketing emails. The option should be somewhere in your account profile. If you can't find it, the Privacy Policy will tell you how to opt out. If you do this every time, you will get virtually no marketing emails.
And what if you do get an email from a financial institution? Don't open it. If you are worried, call your bank. Or log onto your account by accessing the bank's website via your bookmark. But if you do open the email, do not click on any link. It could very easily be a phishing email and you won't know until it is too late.
And after you do, your bank account is cleaned out, your credit card is used by thieves, and, perhaps, your entire identity is stolen because the email was a fake, and you just gave criminals your account number and the password to your account.
Banks, credit card companies, and other financial institutions seldom send out unsolicited emails that contain links to their websites. But a few do. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission recommends that you never click on links in unsolicited emails regarding financial accounts. We suggest you delete the email without even opening it.
Let's talk about your email address for a moment. Part of the problem is that you are giving it out too freely. Do not give out your email address just because somebody asks for it. Every company in the world wants your email address so they can send you marketing emails. Just say NO. If your pest control company asked for your social security number, would you give it to them? Of course not. Treat your email address like your social security number: only give it out if you absolutely must. Otherwise, just say "No thanks."
What about all of the companies that urge you to sign up for online access? First, don't sign up unless being able to view your account online is a benefit to you, and you think at some time you will want to do it. Secondly, if you do sign up, do not leave the company's website until you have opted out of receiving any marketing emails. The option should be somewhere in your account profile. If you can't find it, the Privacy Policy will tell you how to opt out. If you do this every time, you will get virtually no marketing emails.
And what if you do get an email from a financial institution? Don't open it. If you are worried, call your bank. Or log onto your account by accessing the bank's website via your bookmark. But if you do open the email, do not click on any link. It could very easily be a phishing email and you won't know until it is too late.
To learn more about Internet security, please see our tutorial Smart Rules for Using the Internet!
20 Rules to Staying Safe. We have other security-related tutorials also on our website at KeynoteSupport.com. Cheers!
► Take a look at some of our other interesting posts, such as Hot Tip to Quickly Enter the Date and Time in Microsoft Excel
3 comments:
This is nicely written.My brother got scammed like this.Hope others read this and don't be stupid.
Your right. I just started to refuse to give my email address out to everybody who was asking. Seems like every store asks for it now and u know there just gonna send you junk emails.
This is really good advise. I am shocked that the figures show 8 billion dollars,the numbers are probably higher, because of unreported scams,but thats just my opinion.
Kind regards.
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