Don't Become a Victim of Phishing Scams

Phishing is a form of social engineering, characterized by attempts to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords, account, credit card details, etc. by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business in an apparently official electronic communication, such as an email or an instant message.

To avoid becoming a victim of phishing scams:

• Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information unless the email is digitally signed. Phishers typically include upsetting or exciting, but false, statements in their emails to get people to react immediately. They may also ask for confidential information, such as usernames, passwords, credit cards numbers and social security numbers.
• Don't use the links in an email to get to any web page if you suspect the message might not be authentic. Instead, call the company on the telephone, or log on to their website directly by typing the web address into your browser.
• Do not fill out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information. You should only communicate information such as credit card numbers or account information via a secure website or the telephone.
• Always make sure that you are using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your web browser. The web address should read "https://".
• Regularly check your online accounts and your credit and account statements to make sure that all transactions are legitimate.
• If you think that you have received a phishing email, you can send it to the following groups: reportphishing@antiphishing.com and spam@uce.gov.