{"id":1141,"date":"2020-10-23T18:12:15","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T18:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fraud.flywheelsites.com\/?p=1141"},"modified":"2020-11-09T07:30:41","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T07:30:41","slug":"phishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/phishing\/","title":{"rendered":"Phishing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a scheme called &#8220;phishing,&#8221; ID thieves trick people into providing their Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, PIN numbers, mothers&#8217; maiden names, and other personal information by pretending to be someone they&#8217;re not.<\/p>\n<h4>Stay safe. Be Informed.<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Watch out for \u201cphishy\u201d emails.<\/strong>\u00a0The most common form of phishing is emails pretending to be from a legitimate retailer, bank, organization, or government agency. The sender asks to \u201cconfirm\u201d your personal information for some made-up reason: your account is about to be closed, an order for something has been placed in your name, or your information has been lost because of a computer problem. Another tactic phishers use is to say they\u2019re from the fraud departments of well-known companies and ask to verify your information because they suspect you may be a victim of identity theft! In one case, a phisher claimed to be from a state lottery commission and requested people\u2019s banking information to deposit their \u201cwinnings\u201d in their accounts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t click on links within emails that ask for your personal information.<\/strong>\u00a0Fraudsters use these links to lure people to phony Web sites that looks just like the real sites of the company, organization, or agency they\u2019re impersonating. If you follow the instructions and enter your personal information on the Web site, you\u2019ll deliver it directly into the hands of identity thieves. To check whether the message is really from the company or agency, call it directly or go to its Web site (use a search engine to find it).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Beware of \u201cpharming.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0In this latest version of online ID theft, a virus or malicious program is secretly planted in your computer and hijacks your Web browser. When you type in the address of a legitimate Web site, you\u2019re taken to a fake copy of the site without realizing it. Any personal information you provide at the phony site, such as your password or account number, can be stolen and fraudulently used.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Never enter your personal information in a pop-up screen.<\/strong>\u00a0Sometimes a phisher will direct you to a real company\u2019s, organization\u2019s, or agency\u2019s Web site, but then an unauthorized pop-up screen created by the scammer will appear, with blanks in which to provide your personal information. If you fill it in, your information will go to the phisher. Legitimate companies, agencies and organizations don\u2019t ask for personal information via pop-up screens. Install pop-up blocking software to help prevent this type of phishing attack.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Protect your computer with spam filters, anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and a firewall, and keep them up to date.<\/strong>\u00a0A spam filter can help reduce the number of phishing emails you get. Anti-virus software, which scans incoming messages for troublesome files, and anti-spyware software, which looks for programs that have been installed on your computer and track your online activities without your knowledge, can protect you against pharming and other techniques that phishers use. Firewalls prevent hackers and unauthorized communications from entering your computer \u2013 which is especially important if you have a broadband connection because your computer is open to the Internet whenever it\u2019s turned on. Look for programs that offer automatic updates and take advantage of free patches that manufacturers offer to fix newly discovered problems. Go to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.onguardonline.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OnGuardOnline.gov<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.staysafeonline.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">StaySafeOnline.org<\/a>\u00a0to learn more about how to keep your computer secure.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Only open email attachments if you\u2019re expecting them and know what they contain.<\/strong>Even if the messages look like they came from people you know, they could be from scammers and contain programs that will steal your personal information.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Know that phishing can also happen by phone.<\/strong>\u00a0You may get a call from someone pretending to be from a company or government agency, making the same kinds of false claims and asking for your personal information.<\/li>\n<li><strong>If someone contacts you and says you\u2019ve been a victim of fraud, verify the person\u2019s identity before you provide any personal information.<\/strong>\u00a0Legitimate credit card issuers and other companies may contact you if there is an unusual pattern indicating that someone else might be using one of your accounts. But usually, they only ask if you made particular transactions; they don\u2019t request your account number or other personal information. Law enforcement agencies might also contact you if you\u2019ve been the victim of fraud. To be on the safe side, ask for the person\u2019s name, the name of the agency or company, the telephone number, and the address. Get the main number from the phone book, the Internet, or directory assistance, then call to find out if the person is legitimate.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Job seekers should also be careful.<\/strong>\u00a0Some phishers target people who list themselves on job search sites. Pretending to be potential employers, they ask for your social security number and other personal information. Follow the advice above and verify the person\u2019s identity before providing any personal information.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be suspicious if someone contacts you unexpectedly and asks for your personal information.<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s hard to tell whether something is legitimate by looking at an email or a Web site, or talking to someone on the phone. But if you\u2019re contacted out of the blue and asked for your personal information, it\u2019s a warning sign that something is \u201cphishy.\u201d Legitimate companies and agencies don\u2019t operate that way.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Act immediately if you\u2019ve been hooked by a phisher.<\/strong>\u00a0If you provided account numbers, PINS, or passwords to a phisher, notify the companies with whom you have the accounts right away. For information about how to put a \u201cfraud alert\u201d on your files at the credit reporting bureaus and other advice for ID theft victims, use the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/bcp\/edu\/microsites\/idtheft\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Federal Trade Commission&#8217;s Identity Theft web site<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Report phishing, whether you\u2019re a victim or not.<\/strong>\u00a0Tell the company or agency that the phisher was impersonating.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fraud.org\/fraud-alerts\/\"><strong><u>Find Fraud Alerts related to this scam here.<\/u><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a scheme called &#8220;phishing,&#8221; ID thieves trick people into providing their Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, PIN numbers, mothers&#8217; maiden names, and other personal information by pretending to be someone they&#8217;re not. Stay safe. Be Informed. Watch out for \u201cphishy\u201d emails.\u00a0The most common form of phishing is emails pretending to be from a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[132],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1141"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2202,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions\/2202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}