When I received my first phishing email a few years ago, I was confused. I wondered for a moment if it was real, thinking that perhaps the banks did know everything, including personal email addresses I’d never shared. It looked quite official at the time, and it was a company that I knew. I decided not to click the link however, and definitely didn’t want to share any of my banking information. After all, I thought, shouldn’t that be something they already have? Hundreds of phishing emails later, from Paypal (have never used them) and various banks I’ve never heard of, I don’t bat an eye though I do wonder where they get my email address from.
A phishing email is an email that has been made to look just like a letter or notification from your bank, government agency, or some other business.
Usually, they are written in a way that alerts you to a possible problem with your account. Many say that they have an “urgent” request. The email will likely say that they want you to click on a link where you’ll be asked to type in your account information. As soon as you hit “send” some criminal has instant access to your bank account. The next thing you know, you’ve become a victim of identity theft. Criminals use the information obtained to empty the victims’ bank accounts, run up credit card charges and apply for loans or credit in the victims’ names.
There are ways to protect yourself from this kind of email scam. For example – if you receive an email from a bank you don’t even use, delete it.
If you receive an email that seems to be from a company you’ve recently used or your bank, don’t respond to the email in any way. To protect yourself from identity theft, contact the company or your bank to find out if the email is real.
If it isn’t, banks usually provide a dedicated customer service phone number or email address where you can send fraudulent emails. If you suspect that you have a fraud email, cut and paste the email and send it to the bank. You can also report phishing emails at AntiPhishing.org
Any legitimate bank or company won’t ask for you to send them personal information through email. If you think you or someone you know has fallen prey to a phishing scheme, you should always report identity theft to your local authorities. To date, taxpayers have forwarded more than 33,000 of these scam e-mails, reflecting more than 1,500 different schemes, to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Note that the IRS never uses email to contact taxpayers about their tax issues. You can find out more about scams reported to the IRS.
You can find the latest resources on how to avoid phishing scams at AntiPhishing.org’s consumer resource page.
