INTERNET NET SCAM WARNINGS (PHISHING) - brought to you BY Bruce Simmons of Century 21 Lindbloom

DON'T GET HOOKED BY PHISHING

Have you seen this email before?:

“We suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account.
To ensure that your account is not compromised,
please click on the link below and confirm your identity and or login information.”

Or this one?:

“During our regular verification of accounts, we couldn’t verify your information.
Please click here to update and verify your information.”

Or any email with a similar message? It’s a scam called “phishing” — and it involves Internet criminals who send these types of messages or pop-up messages to lure web explorers into giving out personal information such as credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, phishers send an email or pop-up message that claims to be from a business or organization that you may deal with or even a government agency. The message may ask you to “update,” “validate,” or “confirm” your account information. Some phishing emails threaten a dire consequence if you don’t respond. The messages usually have a realistic looking link that will direct you to a website that EVEN looks just like a legitimate organization’s site. But it isn’t. It’s a FAKE website whose sole purpose is to trick you into divulging your personal information so these operators can steal your identity and run up bills or commit crimes in your name.

And that's something I don't want to see happen to you.

The FTC suggests these tips to help you avoid getting hooked by a phishing scam:

If you get an email or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply. And DO NOT click on the link in the message, either. Legitimate companies don’t ask for this kind of information via email. If you are concerned about your account, contact the organization mentioned in the email using a telephone number you know to be genuine, or close the existing internet window, and open a new Internet browser session and type in the company’s correct Web address yourself. (THAT'S RIGHT - DO IT MANUALLY) In any case, don’t cut and paste the link from the message into your Internet browser — phishers can make links look like they go to one place, but that actually send you to a different site.

Use anti-virus software and a firewall, and keep them up to date. Some phishing emails contain software that can harm your computer or track your activities on the Internet without your knowledge.

Anti-virus software and a firewall can protect you from inadvertently accepting such unwanted files. Anti-virus software scans incoming communications for troublesome files. Look for anti-virus software that recognizes current viruses as well as older ones; that can effectively reverse the damage; and that updates automatically.

A firewall helps make you invisible on the Internet and blocks communication connection efforts from unauthorized sources. It’s ESPECIALLY important to run a firewall if you have a broadband connection. Operating systems (like Windows or Linux) or browsers (like Internet Explorer or Netscape) also may offer free software “patches” to close holes in the system that hackers or phishers could exploit.

(I always connect to the windows update site and apply the "Critical Patches" after they've been out for a few weeks.)

Don’t email personal or financial information. Email is not a secure method of transmitting personal information. If you initiate a transaction and want to provide your personal or financial information through an organization’s website, look for indicators that the site is secure, like a lock icon on the browser’s status bar or a URL for a website that begins “https:” (the “s” stands for “secure”). Unfortunately, no indicator is foolproof; some phishers have forged security icons.

Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to check for unauthorized charges. If your statement is late by more than a couple of days, call your credit card company or bank to confirm your billing address and account balances. Sometimes, these "folk" can get a hold of your private info, and get your bills redirected to their own addresses in YOUR GOOD NAME. You'll never see the charges and you'll get the blame for their activity.

Be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files from emails you receive, regardless of who sent them. These files could contain viruses or other software that can weaken your computer’s security. If you receive an email from a friend with an attachment, it could not hurt to check with them first to make sure they sent it. There a lots of ways for a spammer to send you email that searches through your own address book and use it to forward it's nasty payloads!! (In my younger days, my "grandmother" sent me a humor attachment, which after blindly clicking on it because it was from my Nana, proceeded to TRY and delete my hard drive files!!!)

Forward spam that is phishing for information to spam@uce.gov and to the company, bank, or organization impersonated in the phishing email. Most organizations have information on their websites about where to report problems. For example, ebay uses spoof@ebay.com and paypal used spoof@paypal.com. (Um, ah, I just HAPPEN to know those 2 addresses since I've sort of done a "little" bit of business with them.. just a little,.. really.)

The other practice I use is to use websites that I know are reputable or that I've used regularly in the past. If I get an urge to buy something that happened to catch my eye in an advertisement somewhere online, instead of going to the website that advertised to me via an ad banner or pop-up at a site I was visiting (I tend to block pop-ups anyway), I'll do a bit of research about the advertising website or see if I can get it somewhere else and go to a large, well know reputable web presence and look there. This does not mean the smaller unknown sites are not reputable, I just look to play it safe.

If you believe you’ve been scammed, file a complaint at www.ftc.gov, and then visit the FTC’s Identity Theft website at www.consumer.gov/idtheft. Victims of phishing can become victims of identity theft. While you can't entirely control whether you will become a victim of identity theft, you can take some measures to minimize your risk. If an identity thief is opening credit accounts in your name, these new accounts are likely to show up on your credit report. You may catch an incident early enough if you order a free copy of your credit report periodically from any of the three major credit bureaus. See www.annualcreditreport.com for details on ordering a free annual credit report, but please be aware, that too many credit report inquiries can also modify your credit ratings.

You can learn other ways to avoid email scams and deal with deceptive spam at ftc.gov/spam.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related
complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

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Thanks for reading this article you I hope you have a really great day and a safe internet experience.