ONLINE SECURITY THREATS:
Phishing and Spyware are two methods used to gain access to your personal and account information, ultimately stealing your identity, Identity Theft.
To protect yourself, it is important to understand how they work, how to detect them, and how to prevent them, as well as what to do if you fall victim.
WHAT IS PHISHING?
Phishing is a new type of identity theft. Criminals create fictitious emails in an attempt to get you to give up personal or financial account information. These fraudulent emails appear to be from trusted companies, financial institutions and even government agencies. Because these criminals go to great lengths to make the phishing emails look like legitimate emails from banks or other institutions, it is important for you to recognize them.
HOW TO RECOGNIZE A PHISHING EMAIL:
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An email includes scare tactics that lead you to believe clicking on a web site link is vital to your continued access to your financial accounts or other services.
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There is a request for sensitive information such as your password, PIN number, Social Security Number or account number. A legitimate company will never ask you for this via email.
- The email message may contain misspelled words, poor grammar or strange formatting.
IF YOU RECEIVE A PHISHING EMAIL:
Contact the institution the email claims to represent by phone. Do not respond to the suspected phishing email or go to any referenced web site within the email. If you visit these types of sites, “spyware” software can automatically be installed on your PC without your knowledge, and personal information can then easily be stolen.
Do not provide the requested information or go to any referenced web site, you may find yourself the victim of Identity theft.
