"Phishing," the most recent craze among on line evil-doers, has nothing to do with sitting by the end of a dock on a sunny afternoon dangling a worm to entice hungry catfish.
But, if you take their bait, this new variety of online con artist will hook you, reel you in, and take you for each dollar you have got... or worse.
"Phishing" describes a combination of techniques used by cyber crooks to bait people into quitting sensitive personal data such as charge card numbers, social security numbers, bank-account numbers, dates of birth and more.
Their techniques work so very well that, according to FraudWatchInternational.com [http://FraudWatchInternational.com], "phishing" rates as the fastest growing scam online.
Here's the essential pattern for a "phishing" fraud...
You receive a very official email that appears to originate from a legitimate source, for instance a bank, eBay, PayPal, a significant retailer, or some other well known entity.
In the email it tells you that something bad is approximately to happen if you don't act quickly.
Typically it tells you that your account is about to obtain closed, that someone seems to have stolen your identity, and even that an individual opened a fraudulent account making use of your name.
To be able to help straighten everything out, it is advisable to click a link in the email and provide some basic username and passwords so they can verify your identity and give you additional details so that you can help get everything solved.
Once you give up your information... it's all over however the crying!
After getting your information, these cyber-bandits can empty your bank accounts, deplete your PayPal accounts, run up your credit card balances, open new credit accounts, assume your identity and much worse.
A particularly disturbing new variation of this scam specifically targets web business owners and affiliate marketers.
In гидра онион , the scammer's email informs you that they've simply just sent $1,219.43 (or a similar big but believable amount) in affiliate commissions to you via PayPal.
They need you to log into your PayPal account to verify receipt of the money and then email them back again to confirm you got it.
Since you're thus excited at the chance of an unexpected pay day, you click the link to visit PayPal, log in, and BANG! They will have your PayPal login information and may empty your account.
This new "phishing" style fraud works extremely well for 2 2 basic reasons.
First, by exploiting your feeling of urgency created by fear or greed, crooks get you to click the link and present them your information without thinking.
Second, the scammers work with a selection of cloaking and spoofing techniques to make their emails and internet sites appear totally legitimate, making it extremely hard to spot a fake website, especially when they've very first whipped you into an mental frenzy.
