10 Ways to not be a Phishing Scam Victim

Published on Friday, 03 February 2012 16:01

	By Raj Bilkhu Follow @Journo_Raj

Have you ever received emails telling you to claim your multi-thousand pounds prize money? Or you thought your bank emailed you and you were asked for personal information? Maybe some pop-ups appeared luring you to enter a fantastic prize draw?

STOP! These are phishing scams.

Spam emails can be so sophisticated that you are convinced your bank is contacting you. Next thing you know – you are being asked to enter your personal or financial details. Be aware – no bank would ask for this information via email.

This is one of numerous ways cyber criminals get hold of your cash and con innocent people out of their savings. Detica conducted a report for the British Government in 2011 and found that around £3.1 billion are looted from web users in the UK every year.

Don’t join the statistic. Follow these steps to prevent yourself from falling victim to a scam:

1. Install anti-virus and firewall software 
Let the technology do most of the work for you by blocking suspicious websites and pop-ups appearing. AVG and Avast! are free. Other popular software include ZoneAlarm and BlackICE. If you do online banking, take advantage of free anti-virus software that many banks offer to protect your financial transactions.

2. Never respond to emails requesting your details
Do not respond to emails claiming to be from your bank and asking for your personal details. Your bank would not request this over email. To be sure, call up your bank and confirm whether email correspondence was sent from them. You should be cautious of fictitious companies asking for such information because you have been “selected at random” or you are a “lucky winner”. It’s a load of nonsense! Block these emails immediately.

3. Beware of emails from unrecognised senders 
Do not click on links or attachments from unknown or suspicious senders. Avoid copying the web address and opening it in your browser. Some spam emails could carry malicious viruses. Even if the sender poses to be your bank or a legitimate company, check for signs that indicate they are imitating, for example, misspelled words or cheap looking logos and email layouts.

4. Block unsafe websites 
You could add unsafe or suspicious websites to your “Restricted Sites” list so they will never appear on your browser. You could do this by selecting “Internet Options” from the Tools tab. To check the authenticity of a website that contains all or part of a company name, hover the cursor (do not click!) over the website address on the browser bar. A box will appear. If it contains a different numeric web address, this implies the website is “masked” and therefore suspicious.

5. Keep up to date 
Are you still using Internet Explorer 6? Technology is forever evolving. Evolve with it and use modern web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Chrome or Maxthon instead. Avoid using outdated mail clients such as Outlook Express and upgrade to something like Lotus Notes. Even with your personal email, Gmail is highly regarded as having the best spam filter.

6. Look for encryption
If an image of a padlock appears on the url browser, this indicates you are using a safe website. You could double-click the padlock to view the digital certificate of the website. Check the website address; does it begin with “http” or “https”? The “s” refers to safe websites.

7. Keep personal matters at home 
When it comes to online banking or checking your personal email, avoid doing this on public computers. For example, computers at work or in internet cafes. You never know who has access to what you are doing or whether the computer has anti-virus or anti-spyware software installed. For extra security, do not share your passwords with anybody. Change them regularly and increase the strength of passwords by combining numbers, symbols, uppercase and lowercase letters.

8. Use credit cards 
When making purchases online, use your credit card where possible rather than your debit card. Your personal liability if someone compromises your credit card is limited compared to your debit card. Ensure no suspicious activity is going on with your money by regularly checking your bank statements.

9. Avoid sending personal information via email 
Even if you know the person, you should avoid emailing your personal details. This could include your bank details, passwords, debit/credit card numbers, address or national insurance number. You never know who could have access to your email or the sender’s.

10. Use your judgement 
It may seem obvious but stick to your gut instinct: if an email offers something that is too good to be true, more often than not, it probably is!

If you believe you have been targeted by cyber fraudsters, you could report this to the FBI: Internet Fraud Complaint Centre (IFCC) or FTC: National Resource for Identity Theft. Other authorities could also be contacted to help fight phishing scams. For example, you could alert MSN or Microsoft.