What is Phishing?
Phishing-pronounced “fishing” – is the latest form of identity theft. It’s when thieves act as if they are representing an organization and try to “hook” the consumer into providing personal information. Once the consumer is “hooked”, the thieves can do lasting damage to a consumer’s financial accounts. They can dupe consumers into providing Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, PIN’s, mothers’ maiden names and other personal information.

The thieves often pose as:

• Financial Institution
• Credit Card company
• Online Merchant
• Utility or other biller
• Internet service provider
• Government agency
• Prospective employer

How does Phishing work?
The most common form of phishing is by e-mail. The e-mail typically includes bogus appeals such as problems with an account or billing errors, and asks the consumer to confirm their personal information. Different approaches include things such as “We’re updating our records,” We’ve identified fraudulent activity on your account,” or “Valuable account and personal information was lost due to a computer glitch.” To encourage people to act immediately, the e-mail usually threatens that the account could be closed or canceled.

Most e-mails ask recipients to follow an embedded link that takes them to an exact replica of the victim company’s Web site. Graphics on the counterfeit site are so convincing that even experts often can have a hard time distinguishing the fake site from the real one.

Despite the convincing appeals, consumers should not respond to unsolicited e-mails that direct them to divulge personal identifying information. Reputable organizations that consumers legitimately do business with generally do not request account numbers or passwords unless the consumer initiated the transaction.

If you receive an unsolicited e-mail or phone call that seems suspicious and is allegedly from an organization with which you do business, contact the organization to verify that the request is legitimate. You can also contact the Federal Trade Commission’s ID Theft Clearinghouse at www.consumer.gov/idtheft or call 877-438-4338  for information on how to put a “fraud alert” on your files at the credit reporting bureaus.

Identity Protection Tips

• Be suspicious if someone contacts you unexpectedly and asks for your personal information. Most legitimate companies and agencies do not operate this way.
• Do not click on links in e-mails that ask you to provide personal information. To check whether an e-mail or call is really from the company or agency, call the company directly or go to it Web Site (use a search engine to find it)
• Do not provide personal information (such as your Social Security number, account numbers, PIN’s, passwords, etc.) via phone, e-mail or otherwise unless you initiated the contact with the company or agency.
• If someone contacts you via phone or e-mail and says you have been a victim of fraud, verify the person’s identity, and contact the organization directly before you provide any personal information.
• If you manage any of your financial accounts online, choose passwords that are difficult for others to guess and use a different password for each one of your online accounts. Change the password frequently.
• Make sure the Web sites on which you transact business post privacy and security statements. Be sure to review them carefully.
• Do not send sensitive personal or financial information unless it is encrypted on a secure Web site. Regular e-mails are not encrypted. Look for the padlock symbol on the bottom bar of the browser to ensure that the site is running in secure mode before you enter sensitive information.
• Check your monthly statements to verify all transactions.
• Check your credit report twice a year and examine it thoroughly. This will reveal accounts that have been opened without your knowledge.
• Add a statement to your credit file that prohibits the granting of credit without calling you to confirm the application.
• Record the names, account numbers and customer service numbers of all the cards you carry. This way you will have all necessary information you need if you have to cancel your cards immediately.
• Make it difficult for thieves to get “identifying information” from your mail and mailbox. Take envelopes containing checks and other sensitive information directly to the post office instead of leaving them in your mailbox.
• Shred all secure in a lockbox all documents with important identifying information on them, such as bank statements, credit card statements, pre-approved credit card offers and pay stubs.
• Carry only the credit card you would use in an emergency. Do not carry Social Security card.
• Update your personal computer with security patches and install anti-virus software.