Fraud is lurking everywhere, even your Inbox, but you don’t have to fall victim to it. I’ve briefly discussed Phishing scams in past articles but attacks are on the rise yet again. That means I need to take more time to tell you what it is, and how to protect yourself. And, I ask that you pass this information along to your friends and family.

Don’t Get Caught in the Phishermen’s Net

Phishing is a form of Internet fraud aimed at stealing valuable information such as credit cards, social security numbers, user IDs and passwords. Phishing attacks use 'spoofed' e-mails and fraudulent websites designed to fool recipients into divulging personal financial data. By hijacking the trusted brands of well-known banks, online retailers and credit card companies, Phishers are able to convince up to 5% of recipients to respond to them.

Often times a fake website is created that is similar to that of legitimate organizations. Typically these are financial institutions such as a banks or insurance companies. Phishers will typically send an e-mail requesting that the recipient access the fake website (which will usually be a replica of a trusted site) and enter their personal details, including security access codes.

The Phishing e-mails are often sent to large lists of people, expecting that some percentage of the recipients will actually have an account with the real organization they are spoofing. The term comes from fishing, where bait is used to catch a fish. In Phishing, e-mail is used as the bait.

Get Anti-Spam Protection

I know of no anti-spam software that is perfect, but my favorite is MailFrontier Desktop, available at www.MailFrontier.com. MailFrontier Desktop provides the best anti-spam and anti-phishing solution for the individual user. If you're really fed up, you can turn on the “challenge” feature in this program, which forces unknown senders to pass a simple test that will baffle mass-mailing software that spammers use.