What is Phishing?
Phishing is a high-tech scam that uses spam or pop-up messages to deceive you into disclosing your credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security numbers, passwords, or other sensitive information.

How It Works
The scammers create a replica of an existing web page or form to fool you into providing personal or financial information. When scammers are phishing, a fake e-mail is sent out with a link to the fraudulent page – the page can look very real, even identical to genuine web pages. When the fake web form is submitted, it sends the data to the scammer while leaving you on the company’s site so you don’t suspect a thing.

The FBI called phishing the “hottest, and most troublesome scam on the internet.”

Tips to Avoid Phishing

• If you receive an unexpected e-mail saying your account will be shut down unless you provide financial or personal information, do not reply or click on any of the links in the e-mail.
• Before submitting financial information through a web site, look for the “lock” icon on the browser’s status bar. It means that the information is a secure server transmission. Only submit information to a web site if you have personally typed in what you know to be a valid web site address – if you got to the web site through a link from any source, do not submit any personal information.
• If you are uncertain about the information, contact the company through an address or telephone number you know to be genuine
• If you unknowingly supplied personal or financial information, contact your credit card company or bank immediately
• Suspicious e-mail can be forwarded to spam@uce.gov and complaints should be filed with the state attorney general’s office or through the FTC at www.ftc.gov.

For more information on phishing, please visit http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/phishingalrt.pdf
OR
http://www.aba.com/Consumer+Connection/033104PHISH.htm