Phishing Protection

How to avoid phony phishermen

What is Phishing?

"Phishing" involves the use of fraudulent e-mails and copy-cat websites to trick you into revealing valuable personal information—such as account numbers for banking, securities, mortgage, or credit accounts, your social security number, and the login IDs and passwords you use when accessing online financial services providers. The fraudsters who collect this information then use it to steal your money, your identity, or both.

For help organizing your personal information, see our MySecurityVault software.

How Do Phishers "Catch" You?

When fraudsters go on "phishing" expeditions, they lure their targets into a false sense of security by hijacking the familiar, trusted logos of legitimate companies. A typical phishing scam begins when a phisher sends out millions of e-mails that appear to come from a high-profile financial services provider or a respected Internet auction house.

The phishing e-mail will usually ask you to provide valuable information about yourself or to "verify" information that you previously provided when you established your online account. To maximize the chances that a recipient will respond, the fraudster usually employs one or more of the tactics in the following list.

Tactics used in Phishing Fraud

• Names of Real Companies—Rather than create a phony company from scratch, phishers often use a legitimate company's name and incorporate the look and feel of its website (including the color scheme and graphics) into the phishy e-mail.
  
  
• "From" an Actual Employee—The "from" line or the text of the message (or both) might contain the names of real people who actually work for the company. That way, if you contacted the company to confirm whether "Jane Doe" truly is "VP of Client Services," you'd get a positive response and feel assured.
  
  
• URLs that "Look Right"—The e-mail might include a convenient link to a seemingly legitimate website where you can enter the information the phisher wants to steal. But in reality, the website will be a quickly cobbled copy-cat—a "spoofed" website that looks like the real thing. In some cases, the link might lead to select pages of a legitimate website—such as the real company's actual privacy policy or legal disclaimer.
  
  
• Urgent Messages—Many fraudsters use fear to trigger a response, and phishers are no different. In common phishing scams, the e-mails warn that failure to respond will result in account access denial. Other phishing e-mails might claim that the company has detected suspicious activity in your account or that it is implementing new privacy software or identity theft solutions.

How to Protect Yourself from Phishing

The best way you can protect yourself from phony phishers is to understand what legitimate financial service providers and respectable online auction houses will and will not do. Most importantly, legitimate entities will not ask you to provide or verify sensitive information through a non-secure means, such as e-mail.

Six Simple Anti-Phishing Guidelines

Follow these guidelines to protect yourself from phishing:

1. Pick Up the Phone to Verify - Do not respond to any e-mails that request personal or financial information, especially ones that use pressure tactics or prey on fear. If you have reason to believe that a financial institution actually does need personal information from you, pick up the phone and call the company yourself—using the number in your rolodex, not the one the e-mail provides!
   
   
2. Do Your Own Typing - Rather than merely clicking on the link provided in the e-mail, type the URL into your web browser yourself (or use a bookmark you previously created). Even though a URL in a phishing e-mail may look like the real deal, phishers can mask the true destination.
   
   
3. Beef Up Your Security - Personal firewalls and security software packages (with anti-virus, anti-spam, and spyware detection features) are a must-have for those who engage in online financial transactions. Make sure your computer has the latest security patches, and make sure that you conduct your financial transactions only on a secure web page using encryption. You can tell if a page is secure in a couple of ways. Look for a closed padlock in the status bar, and see that the URL starts with "https" instead of just "http."
   

Security Tip: Some phishers make spoofed websites which appear to have padlocks. To double-check, click on the padlock icon on the status bar to see the security certificate for the site. Following the "Issued to" in the pop-up window you should see the name matching the site you think you're on. If the name differs, you are probably on a spoofed site.


4. Keep Your Computer Clean - Surfing the Internet causes personal information to be stored on your computer. The easiest way to keep your computer clean from this clutter is to use a computer cleaning tool, like SecureClean.
   
   
5. Read Your Statements - Don't toss aside your monthly account statements! Read them thoroughly as soon as they arrive to make sure that all transactions shown are ones that you actually made, and check to see whether all of the transactions that you thought you made appear as well. Be sure that the company has current contact information for you, including your mailing address and e-mail address.
   
   
6. Spot the Sharks—Visit the website of the Anti-Phishing Working Group at www.antiphishing.org for a list of current phishing attacks and the latest news in the fight to prevent phishing. There you'll find more information about phishing and links to helpful resources.
   

What to Do if You Run into Trouble with Phishing

Always act quickly when you come face to face with a potential phishing, especially if you've lost money or believe your identity has been stolen.

• Phishing E-mails —If a phishing scam rolls into your e-mail box, be sure to tell the company right away. You can also report the scam to the FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center at www.IFCCFBI.com. If the e-mail purports to come from a brokerage firm or mutual fund company, be sure to pass along that tip to the SEC's Enforcement Division by forwarding the e-mail to enforcement@sec.gov.
  
  
• Securities Scams—Before you do business with any investment-related firm or individual, do your own independent research to check out their background and confirm whether they are legitimate. For step-by-step tips and links to helpful websites, please read Check Out Brokers and Advisers and SIPC Exposes Phony "Look-Alike" Web Site. Report investment-related scams to the SEC using the SEC's online Complaint Center.
  
  

Have Concerns about other Identity Theft Scams?

Check out WhiteCanyon's identity theft education library.