http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/banking/8371096/How-to-outwit-the-phishing-fraudsters.html?utm_source=tmg&utm_medium=TD_8371096&utm_campaign=personalfinance1203
How to outwit the phishing fraudsters While other forms of online fraud are in decline, more people are falling for bogus emails that ask recipients to disclose their passwords. Our Q&A will help keep you safe. The term phishing comes from the analogy that the fraudsters are 'fishing' for information in the sea of internet users 1:16PM GMT 09 Mar 2011 33 Comments "Phishing" emails - messages that seem to come from a reputable institution but direct you to a fake website that will invite you to enter your bank details or other sensitive information - are one of fraudsters' favourite methods. Many of these emails pretend to be from banks and warn that you need to visit a website to "confirm" your security information, for example. The website is a convincing copy of the real thing - if you do visit it and enter your details, the scammers will use the information to withdraw money from your bank account. So how can you protect yourself? How do the phishers get your email address? Phishing emails are types of "spam" email which are sent at random to customers and non-customers alike. Spammers gather email addresses from a variety of sources such as web pages, newsgroups, guesswork and a whole variety of other means, and these lists are traded across the internet. The addresses are not gathered from the bank and the bank's own systems have not been used to send the emails. Who do I report a phishing incident to? You should inform your bank using the contact details listed on its website. What do I do if I think I have already disclosed my personal security details on a phishing site? It is essential that you contact your bank immediately by telephone informing them of when this happened and how you were contacted. This will enable your bank to investigate and ensure that you and your account are protected. If I have had money withdrawn from my account by criminals, will I get a full refund? Banks are committed to keeping their customers' money safe and will protect customers from internet fraud as long as they have acted with reasonable care. Customers must take sensible precautions so that they are not vulnerable to the criminal. How can I keep my PC secure? For more information on keeping your PC secure visit www.getsafeonline.org.uk. Is it safe to continue to use online banking? Yes. Banking online is a safe and convenient way to manage your money and there is no reason why the internet cannot be used with confidence. However, you should not relax your guard when online. You should be more suspicious of an unsolicited email than of a stranger knocking at the front door, because it is harder for you to ask the email sender to prove that they are who they say they are. Remember, if you follow the advice here and that given to you by your bank, it will a lot harder for the criminals to succeed. What is being done to stop phishing? The banking industry is working very closely with a number of partners in the UK and overseas, such as the Serious Organised Crime Agency, internet service providers and software companies, to clamp down on the phishing attacks. How successful are the criminals who use phishing scams? Although the number of attacks has increased, most people are aware of the scams and merely delete the messages. However, as these scams have become more sophisticated and the number of internet users increases, the potential for customers to be fooled into giving away their security details potentially increases. Banks are continuing to work at a number of levels to educate customers and limit the impact of these attacks so the number of people who are duped should remain small. Why is it called phishing? In the mid-late 1990s, people tried to obtain AOL screen names and passwords which would allow them to gain free online access by directing AOL users to fake websites. Details captured in this manner were traded with other people and were referred to as "phish". The term phishing comes from the analogy that the fraudsters are "fishing" for information in the sea of internet users and the "ph" spelling has its origins in the hacking community when phone "phreakers" used to manipulate telephone exchanges to gain free calls [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: prole...@egroups.com Subscribe : proletar-subscr...@egroups.com Unsubscribe : proletar-unsubscr...@egroups.com List owner : proletar-ow...@egroups.com Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! 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