Phishing

Phishing

A type of scam which attempts to steal an individual's identity and/or financial account credentials.

Phishing attacks include sending spoof e-mails to lead the recipient to websites designed to trick the recipient into entering financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords etc. The website is typically styled to look identical to the real website, and the only give-away may be that the url doesn't look quite right. Phishing emails might also contains attachments, asking the victim to complete a form, such attachments might be to gather identify information and/or install a virus on the victim's computer.

As a rule, genuine emails from retailers, companies etc, will never as for personal information such as bank account and credit card numbers, passwords, pin numbers etc.

For more information see:

• www.antiphishing.org - Website of the Anti-Phishing working group. Includes UK resources on what to do if you are the victim of a Phishing attack.
• www.onguardonline.gov/topics/phishing.aspx - How spot a phishing message and avoid getting hocked and what to do if you are caught out.
• www.banksafeonline.org.uk/phishing_explained.html - Article on what phishing is and advice on how to spot it. The site also gives good general advice on the scams related particularly to the banking sector.
• http://everything.explained.at/phishing - Phishing explained.