7 Ways To Protect Yourself From Becoming A Victim of Phishing

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Are you wondering what steps to take to protect yourself from phishing? Chances are high that you have received an email from a financial institution, PayPal, eBay, or even place of work asking you to login to a website co confirm your online user name and password or another personal password. If you have received this type of email you have saw an online scam called phishing; criminals fishing (phishing) the water with millions of spam emails, trusting that an unfortunate few "fish" will swallow the bait. It is good to know that there are some steps to take to protect yourself from beoming the next victim of a phishing scam.
If you catch the bait, so to speak, you are tricked into thinking they are going to the companies legitimate site,. Nothing could be further from the truth however, as you are going to the cyber criminals site. This site is purposely designed to steal your personal information; leading you to have your personal info stolen, added to the ever-growing list of victims of identity theft. The later happens to be one of the fastest growing crimes in both the USA and Canada.
Phishing scams are serious business; a very real threat to your personal security and privacy.
It is somewhat comforting to know that there are some basic methods to protect yourself from becoming yet another victim of a phishing scam.

1. Don't even think of responding to an email query from an auction site, financial institution, or for that matter anyone else to confirm your identity on a web site. You will never be asked for this information via email from legitimate organizations.
2. Even if it looks perfectly authentic, never click on the hyper links in an email. Instead get into the habit of typing the URL manually into your browser.
3. If you are not the customer of the financial institution or other company that is attempting to get financial or personal data from you, delete the email. You can do your part of being a good online citizen; forward the spam to spam@uce.gov and while you are at it the company or financial institution that was spoofed in the email.
4. If you just cannot contain yourself and insist on visiting the site linked in the spam, give them a false password. You will know that the site is not authentic if it accepts your false password.
5. Have your computer protected with Internet security software; personal firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-keylogger software. Some phishing emails contain malicious software, such as a keylogger or spyware, that can harm your computer or even track all your online activities. In fact, a keylogger silently records every keystroke and even captures screen shots.
6. It is not a good idea to email personal or financial information. Email is an unsecure method to transmit information.
7. Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them. Better yet, take advantage of online banking to check your credit card and banking info on a regular basis. You want to do this to make sure that no unauthorized charges have been made. If your bank account or credit card statements are more than a few days late, call them to check your account balance and to make sure that they still have your correct address.

If you have fallen victim to a phishing scam there are definite steps that you should take right away, as in yesterday.

1. Immediately contact all compromised card issuers. If you gave your password to the spoofed site, change the password on the legitimate site and any site where you use that password for that matter.
2. Contact your credit bureau(s).
3. In the United States file a report at ftc.gov and than visit the FTC's Identity Theft Website. In Canada, report the incident online at the RECOL website. You might also want to contact PhoneBusters with any info at 1-888-495-8501.

It sure is good to know that there are some steps you can take to help protect yourself from phishing scams. Don't catch the bait and become a victim of a phishing scheme. Like other Internet security threats, when it comes to phishing scams an ounce of prevention is definitely worth a pound of cure.

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