| Overview of Phishing Scams | | | | of raising your alarm bell. See Figure Below. * Look |
| The unique purpose of a Phishing scams is to obtain | | | | for the URLs as shown in the emails and your |
| your sensitive information to do frauds. Scammers | | | | Browser Status Bar: Nowadays, most of the |
| send mass emails to every address they can find. | | | | browsers display the URL in their status bar if you |
| Typically the email will appear to come from a bank | | | | hover your mouse over a hyperlink. This is your most |
| or financial institution. It is e-mail content to prompt | | | | important trick to quickly discover most of the |
| you to update your information for some reason, and | | | | phishing attempts. Hover your mouse over the link, |
| they usually provide a link that you can click to do so. | | | | and without clicking just look down below at your |
| This all sounds reasonable and it may look legitimate; | | | | status bar. Compare the two links very cautiously. * |
| phishing scams are anything but legitimate. The link | | | | Look if any generic name is there in the salutation: |
| provided does not take you to the financial | | | | Like mentioned above, if you do not find a salutation, |
| institution’s website. Instead, you’ll be | | | | or you find a generic salutation, then it is time to be |
| submitting your information to a website run by the | | | | concerned. We are not saying that all such emails are |
| scammers. Why Scammers Use Phishing Scams | | | | phishing, there are many exceptions to this as well, |
| Why would somebody do this? Well, you can gather | | | | but it is surely a sign to be more cautious and look |
| a lot of sensitive information with a phishing scam. | | | | for other clues. See Figure Below. * |
| First, you can get somebody’s account number | | | | Look for Poor Grammer and Salutation: Without |
| and password. Then you can try to hijack their | | | | prejudice to any country or race, it has been |
| assets. Some phishing scams ask for all of your | | | | observed that most of the phishing attacks are from |
| personal information (SSN, mother’s maiden | | | | countries where population is not English speaking. |
| name, date of birth, etc) so that they can steal your | | | | And it leaves a mark everywhere. Since phishers are |
| identity and open credit accounts in your name. Some | | | | generally individuals, not organizations, and mostly |
| victims of phishing scams have given up their credit | | | | operating from close confines, there are small |
| card numbers only to find that the card was used | | | | grammatical and punctuation mistakes in their copy. |
| fraudulently. How to Detect Phishing Scam Emails | | | | Look for them, and be warned. * Do not rely on the |
| Most of the phishing scams are carried through | | | | link address shown in the Browser Status Bar: Even |
| phishing emails,so the most important key to prevent | | | | if, you find that the URL address as shown in the |
| phishing scam is how to distinguish phishing emails. | | | | Browser Status Bar is exactly the same as that |
| Detecting most of these phishing emails is easy, using | | | | shown in the email, there are chances that the actual |
| a number of security products is the most | | | | hyperlink is pointing to somewhere else. In such a |
| convenient way, such as Ax3soft Sax2,it is a | | | | case, your safest bet is to just select the URL and |
| professional intrusion detection and prevention | | | | copy it. Open a second browser windows, paste the |
| system (IDS) used to detect intrusion and attacks, | | | | address there and press enter. Remember, do not |
| for more information, visit if you are a bit careful. | | | | use the Copy Link Location command from the right |
| Then the followings are several ways that can help | | | | click menu. It will defeat the entire purpose. * |
| you identify phishing emails? | | | | Do not rely even if you find your name in the |
| * | | | | salutation or address: With the advancement of |
| Look for your Name in the address: Phishers, | | | | technology, phishing techniques are also getting |
| generally don’t know the names of their targets. | | | | smarter every day. Now phishers dig deep and |
| They are actually phishing for the weak and | | | | research to find the name and addresses of their |
| unalarmed users to make their targets. Look for the | | | | targets. So even if you find that proper Greetings |
| header of the email you received. If you do not find | | | | and salutations are there, still there are chances that |
| your name or email address in the address bar, this is | | | | you are staring at a phishing scam attempt. * |
| a red sign. You have to be cautious on this email. See | | | | Look for the domain name of the link: The domain |
| Figure below. * | | | | names tell you many things. If the domain name of |
| Look for the Salutation / Greetings: Generally, the | | | | the URL, to where your Browser status bar is |
| financial organizations are very careful about the | | | | pointing, is same as your financial institution, then you |
| personal experience which their users get while | | | | are most like safe. But be very cautious here. You |
| transacting with them. One usual practice taken care | | | | should be knowing, what exactly is the domain |
| by them is to greet their customers with the name. | | | | address in a URL. Phishers try to make it look like the |
| If you do not find any greeting or salutation, then it | | | | original domain, and you have to find the actual |
| is also a thing to deal the email with caution. We are | | | | domain name from that. * Use Copy & Paste: Yes it |
| not saying that all emails without salutation are | | | | is really good idea. But remember, don’t use |
| phishing emails, but this is definitely a preliminary way | | | | Copy Link Location from the right click menu. |