Don't get hooked by Phishing!

Below is an example of a phishing email. Click on the image for a larger picture.

PHISHING:

* is the act of tricking someone into giving them confidential information or tricking them into doing something that they normally wouldn’t do or shouldn’t do. For example: sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft.

* Comes from the analogy that internet scammers are using email bait to fish for passwords and financial data from the sea of internet users. Since hackers have a tendancy of replacing "f" with "ph", the term phishing was derived. The term has evolved over the years to include not only obtaining user account details but access to all personal and financial data.

* is a form of Internet fraud that aims to steal valuable information such as credit cards, social security numbers, user IDs and passwords. A fake website is created that is similar to that of a legitimate organisation, typically a financial institution such as a bank or insurance company. An email is sent 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. ...

* Is a type of fraud whereby a criminal attempts to trick their victim into accepting a false identity presented by the criminal. The common application of this approach is to send fake emails (email spoofing) to a victim purporting to come from a legitimate source and requesting information (such as a bank account number and password) or directing the victim to a fake Internet website where this information can be captured (webpage spoofing). ...

* (also known as phising) is the practice whereby a fraudster who is pretending to be from a legitimate organisation, sends misleading emails requesting personal and financial details from unsuspecting people.

* a form of identity theft in which a scammer uses an authentic-looking e-mail to trick recipients into giving out sensitive personal information, such as a credit card, bank account or Social Insurance numbers.

* In computing, phishing is the act of attempting to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business with a real need for such information in a seemingly official electronic notification or message (most often an email, or an instant message). It is a form of social engineering attack.