Phishing Information

What is Phishing? Maybe some of you already know or maybe you have seen it in Anti-Virus programs. Phishing is basicly a scam... it is where you receive an e-mail asking for personal info. For Example: "Let's say one day you open up your e-mail and notice a new e-mail from supposedly Ebay. You open up the e-mail and it asks you to verify your Ebay account name and password by clicking the link below or it will be de-activated in the next 24 hours. You click the link below and it brings you to where you need to "Verify your account" by putting your name and password in. Next, you put in the name and password to your account and click submit..." You have just now given your Ebay Name and Password to some Scam Artist.

Phishing E-mails normaly ask you to click a link within the e-mail that brings you to a site that may look legitimate but is actualy a scam.

There are many ways to stay safe from these Emails. Here are some Tips.

1) Look for the phrase "Please verify your account" Companies should never ask for personal information through an E-Mail.

2) Most Phishing e-mails never use your first or last name because they are sent to multiple people. So watch out for "Hello, Valued Customer"
3) Scam Artists have been known to use slightly altered URLs such as www.squido.com or www.Verification-squidoo.com as their links.
4) Phishing e-mails also sometimes make you feel it is of great importance to respond. Such as "Your Ebay account will be deactivated if not verified soon." Which may cause you to act without looking over the e-mail carefuly.
5) Lastly, If you receive an e-mail about buying an item on Ebay and you think "I never bought an item on Ebay recently" that e-mail may be a Phishing scam or perhaps a true mistake by Ebay.

Some of the possible consequences of fallin victim to Phishing scams are listed below...

1) Giving your password and/or username to the scam artist for whatever business.

2) Giving your name, address, phone, and any other information about where you live.

3) Giving your credit card number or any other financial information which could lead to loss of money.


4)Your E-mail which could lead to more Phishing scam emails by other scammers. Some scammers are part of a "Scamming Community" which will constantly share private information about the people they have scammed. Also many will share you information with friends, and you personal information could spread as fast as a wild fire.
(This can be just as bad as giving your credit card number)

5) Getting multiple Trojans or any other viruses through the email if not caught by your Anti-Virus. Note: Not all Anti-Virus programs will not stop all viruses comming. I just recently switched from Norton Anti-Virus to Kaspersky and did my first full computer scan and came up with 129 undetected viruses that had slipped through Norton. This could potentionally be the worst thing that could happen. I've had my fair share of viruses, and let me tell you, they can be fatal to your computer.

TIP
As you can see in the comments of this website, there is a comment down below trying to get you to go to this website and download their software staying it keeps your computer safe, these are normally fakes. If you download them it could potentionally infect your computer with a virus, but many simply try to trick you into buying it. A friend of mine recently downloaded something similar and kept getting this annoying pop-up telling him to buy the full version of the Anti-Virus. He kept on closing it, but soon enough it would pop-up again on his desktop. He tried what he could to fix it himself, but soon went to Google to find a way to stop it. He typed in the name of the program "How to remove (Insert program name)". The program detected he was trying to find out how to remove it so it instantly shut down his Internet Browser, stopping him from seeing the results.

There are a couple of ways to prevent from being scammed. One is to use the latest version of Internet Explorer which includes a "Phishing Filter" that blocks you from reported Phishing web sites. It is possible that the Phishing Filter does not stop you from going to a Phishing web site if that site is not reported. Second, have up-to-date Anti Virus programs... such as:

. . .

Kaspersky (my personal choice) Norton Anti-Virus, McAfee and other Anti-Virus programs.

Lastly, Try to stay away from suspicious web sites and E-mails.

Viruses can range from to just a minor virus that doesn't do much to viruses that can be fatal to your computer.
One type of virus is Trojan Spies. Trojan spies monitor your actions on the computer and what programs you have opened and send the information to the person who created the virus. These viruses are normaly used to get financial information.

Another type of virus is the Trojan Notifiers These Trojans just notify the creator that the virus sent to you has successfully infected your computer. These Trojans are normaly sent with multiple viruses that can do more harm.

Then theres the Trojan Dropper. The Trojan Dropper installs more malware without you knowing. These Trojans are mostly used by hackers.

Rootkits are a type of virus hacker use. Rootkits try to "hide" the virus until the hacker gets access to your computer.

::Will add more in the future::