Look Of Phishing Scams

Topic no (up0003)


What does a phishing scam look like?

Phishing e-mail
messages take a number of forms. They might appear to come from your
bank or financial institution, a company you regularly do business
with, such as Microsoft, or from your social networking site. In the United States, recent bank mergers have created new opportunities for scammers. For more information, read FTC Consumer Alert: Bank Failures, Mergers and Takeovers: A "Phish-erman’s Special."Spear
phishing is a targeted form of phishing in which an e-mail message
might look like it comes from your employer, or from a colleague who
might send an e-mail message to everyone in the company, such as the
head of human resources or IT. For details, see Spear phishing: highly targeted scams. Phishing
mail often includes official-looking logos and other identifying
information taken directly from legitimate Web sites, and it may
include convincing details about your personal information that
scammers found on your social networking pages.The main thing
phishing e-mail messages have in common is that they ask for personal
data, or direct you to Web sites or phone numbers to call where they
ask you to provide personal data. The following is an example of what a phishing scam in an e-mail message might look like.



Example of a phishing e-mail message, which includes a deceptive Web address that links to a scam Web site.
To
make these phishing e-mail messages look even more legitimate, the scam
artists may place a link in them that appears to go to the legitimate
Web site (1), but actually takes you to a phony scam site (2) or
possibly a pop-up window that looks exactly like the official site. Here are a few phrases to look for if you think an e-mail message is a phishing scam. "Verify your account."Businesses should not ask you to send passwords, login names, Social
Security numbers, or other personal information through e-mail. If
you receive an e-mail message from Microsoft asking you to update your
credit card information, do not respond: this is a phishing scam. To
learn more, read Fraudulent e-mail that requests credit card information sent to Microsoft customers."You have won the lottery."The lottery scam is a common phishing scam known as advanced fee fraud.
One of the most common forms of advanced fee fraud is a message that
claims that you have won a large sum of money, or that a person will
pay you a large sum of money for little or no work on your part. The
lottery scam often includes references to big companies, such as
Microsoft. There is no Microsoft lottery. "If you don't respond within 48 hours, your account will be closed."These
messages convey a sense of urgency so that you'll respond immediately
without thinking. A phishing e-mail message might even claim that your
response is required because your account might have been compromised.