Determining Phishing Emails

[Aileen]

Phishing emails are made by scam artists to collect your personal info and wipe you out financially. Scam artists can be able to make fake company logos and sending fraudulent emails asking you to click certain link. Once you click it, you will be directed to a different site and will ask you to supply all pertinent information like social security no., bank account numbers, credit card info etc. and then afterwards you'll realized its a spoof website.

You can avoid this by being aware on your incoming emails. Generic greetings and not personalized emails should always raise a red flag.

Do not be deceived by emails with sound of urgency. The scammers want to create a sense of urgency to get you to act quickly before you have time to think about it.

So, the lesson is be wise in opening emails and think twice before you give out all your personal information. Internet world is very, very broad. It's so hard to point out who's the spammers and not. Be extra careful or else, get ready to kiss your money goodbye.

[Andrea]

Thanks for the advice, Aileen. You never know who to trust these days, especially online.

[zul200289]

yeah.. recently i got an e-mail

supposingly from Yahoo

They say that I won some-kind of lottery and I'll pocket some serious $$$!

Then, they said i need to sign up for Yahoo! Games and pay around.. I dunno, $10.. for the processing fee.

LOL. That was funny.

Beware guys. Don't fall to these type of scams!

[Pacman]

Thanks for the info Aileen, it’s good to know what to do with those phishing emails that we always receive.

[Manny]

This is a great info from Aileen. Indeed, with the presence of scupulous individuals around, they will do everything for easy money. Of course, unaware of their scammy procedure, you'll fall in their pits. These mails are not only in the internet, but also in the mobile arena. Beware!

[Thesa]

Phishing, a fast growing cyber crime, that has caused damages worth millions by getting personal and confidential data (date of birth, login information etc.) by unlawful means.

Their main modus of operation is to ask their unsuspecting victim to open a new account, or update existing ones or giving prizes via lottery wherein on opening the link, the victim is taken to a page where they fill up the information which is then used to steal information.

It works on the principal of curiosity wherein it does not matter how educated or computer savvy the users are. There are designed so well that the victim is led to know that is a real site and not a fake one.

“Email Phishing” is common, but now new techniques have come up, like “Phone Phishing”- where the caller pretends to be a representative of a bank and get all the information and the “Social Networks are getting phished” as links that point to them actually point to another site wherein once more information is given.

So, before giving any information online, please double check everything or better not give if unsure. After all, “it is better safe than to be sorry”.