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October 06, 2004
Phishing Scams To Watch For
Phishing is the term used to describe online thieves who "fish" for information about you. Many times this is sensitive, personal information such as credit card numbers or your social security number. Phishing leads to you allowing someone to make fraudelent charges on your credit card or, worse, phishing scams lead to identity theft.
Everyone knows that you should never give out sensitive information such as social security numbers over the phone to people who call. Many times criminals will pose as a legitimate company, including one that you do business with, and ask you to "verify" crucial information such as your social security number. Unfortuniately, many people still fall for this trick on the telephone.
With computers and easy Internet access growing to become a more central element in our lives, criminals have taken to the Internet to contintue to fool people. One way to "phish" for sensitive personal information is to setup a website that looks official and send out emails asking you to go to this website and enter your information.
Many times it is a duplicate of a website that you would consider reputable and one you might even have a business relationship with, such as PAYPAL.com.
Posted by savsb at October 6, 2004 07:07 PM