A phishing scam is a scheme by which hackers imitate well known companies in e-mails to trick people into sharing their passwords, credit-card numbers or other private information.The messages can appear to come from trustworthy companies or even your bank. However, the sites they lead you to are in fact not what they seem.
While they look exactly the same, the scam websites have been setup by hackers to gather your personal information and sell it to fraudsters in a new spin on identity fraud.
Phishing use many methods to trick their victims so it could be anything from a fake America Online Billing Center, or your credit card informing you about a recent purchase.
The best way to avoid getting caught in a phishing scam is to remember to do two things:
- On sites where you enter personal information, it is best to go directly to the site and never click through email links. That way you can be sure you are going to the correct site.
- Remember that your bank, credit card or other companies will never ask you for information they already have such as a social security number, pin or even your password.
For more tips, see our how to avoid a phishing scam article.
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'What Is A Phishing Scam?' was written by FreewareWeb Staff member Andre Malesh.
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