This new style of cultivating information is called “phishing”. Phishing holds a variety of meanings and is used in many different situations by the dishonest in order to pry away your personal data. Most commonly, phishing is the spamming of your inbox, by bombarding it with hundreds of e-mails that hold keywords and links that will slip by your spam filter. This in turn exploits the very make-up of a spam filter, which is supposed to click on the links that appear in your e-mails before you open them in order to ensure the integrity of the e-mail message you are about to open. By doing this you can potentially visit harmful and unlawful sites from your home computer without ever knowing it.

In more recent times, phishing has taken on a new form and now goes hand-in-hand with garden variety identity theft. Bogus e-mails are now sent from people attempting to phish information from your computer, however now they are posing as bank officials and dressing up their e-mails like official notifications from your local bank. Upon reading these fake e-mail messages, the user will sometimes unknowingly enter their bank account information into an unsecure form and essentially give away their personal data to the wrong people.

When this banking data falls into the wrong hands, the obvious malicious usage begins as phishing identity theft experts have been known, to transfer funds instantly into their own offshore accounts. These modern day spammers are nothing more than con artists that are hiding mischievously behind a computer screen and often hidden IP address. These proxy servers through which phishing identity theft experts operate make is extremely difficult for moth local and national law enforcement officials to pursue them. Proxies are fairly inexpensive to set up and hide behind, which makes this a popular first-front of defense for hackers.
A phishing expert that is experienced enough is often never apprehended, leaving the victim helpless with a bad credit score and endless calls to make to cancel their credit cards and restore their credit score to what it once was. The best way to avoid being victimized by phishing experts is to always screen your e-mails regularly and make sure you recognize the e-mail addresses you are receiving e-mails from. Although an e-mail message may in fact look like a legitimate e-mail from your local bank, it might be an attempt to phish your information. Always make sure the sender is trusted and if the e-mail looks suspicious, contact your local bank official and discard the e-mail message immediately before you become a victim of identity theft.

Be cautious

Not everything is what it looks like. The website, where the mail directed you was designed by a potential hacker rather than being from the bank department. This just a common example of one of the “phishing” scams. As you enter all the personal information the website asks for, all details are transferred in the hands of people, who will assure you are their next victim of identity theft. They will use your personal information for opening new loans or credit cards, under your individual identity. Perhaps, after some months when you drop by your lender to apply for a loan and when you are refused, you will for the very first time realize that your credit rating had been perished by the identity thieves.

You can easily spot these scam emails

The above scenario has become typical in today’s world, as the number of these scammers are increasing, who commit identity theft, and carry such operations so that people believe that the emails are actually from the official sites. They can use deadly tactics, which make the target believe that even if they do not oblige, their account can either be suspended or expired. You can easily spot these scam emails. Many of these emails are usually addressed to “Dear Your Bank customer”- the moment you point this move back. The prime reason behind this is the scammer located your email id from your company site, and included the address in the list of potential victims. In case, your bank was really behind all this requirements, there would have been a personal communication instead.

Do not give personal details

The greatest thing you can do to stop such phishing scams, is to avoid such unofficial emails and never to click any link to such websites. Even by just clicking, you will verify the scammer that your address is valid, and then he will keep on looking for loops. It is recommended not to give such high-profiled personal details in such a way. Even if the site somehow looks official, be smarter to contact your bank first, and it is only after confirmation that you proceed. It may consume some time and the call may charge a few extra cents, but it will undoubtedly save you from the hassle of being the victim of identity theft.

Report spammers

Unfortunately, there are very less things one can do to stop such flow of emails, but you can possibly report this to your internet service provider for your own identity protection, to restrict such spam emails. Moreover, you can report a file to the police as it is a crime. There are countless scammers ready to steal your identity, just take care you do not become the next victim.

One of the biggest issues associated with internet is identity theft

One of the biggest issues associated with internet is identity theft, which is a serious crime. Although different hackers utilize different techniques to access sensitive information but emails have always been a favorite tool for them. Email spamming, for instance, is a popular form of hacking. This is the process where hackers send loads and loads of emails from different addresses. When people open these emails, they get infected as these mail come with a virus.

E-mails with viruses are now rare

With betterment in technology, emails having a virus attached to them have become rarer. However, these identity thieves are now using other methods and spoofing is one of the most commonly used techniques. In this technique, email header is changed to make it look like a mail coming from authentic sources.

Stay away from clicking on e-mail links

Now, it is easy to see that emails can create problems but there are some ways to stop them hurting you in a big way. For instance, it is recommended for home users to stay away from clicking on any link available in emails. However, there has to be something more refined and effective for business users. The good news is that some sophisticated options are now available to stop spoofing. For instance, the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is a good option to consider as it helps in check if an email contains spoofed address or not.

Recognize scams

Apart from this, there are some other solutions as well but if you will move sensibly, you will surely be able to avoid identity theft through emails.  The single most important thing is that you must try to recognize an email scam. Although it has become difficult as con artists use sophisticated techniques to create perfect looking logos but you can still check for few things to know if the email is authentic or not. For instance, businesses never ask you to reveal your passwords or bank account info through email. Moreover, you will always find these emails asking to take quick actions. Closing your account in case you do not reply within 48 hours is a good example of this. Another important thing to look for is the personalized messages. Since these emails are sent out in bulk, they do not usually treat you as an individual person. Even if your name is mentioned in the email, check for other points before clicking on a link, which is designed to take you to a phony website.

The fact of the matter is that spamming, spoofing and phishing are few of the most common techniques used for identity theft. Losing your personal information can make you pay through the nose and that is why you need to take your time before reacting to an email message.

To avoid the many rip-offs that come with identity theft through phishing, you are advised to be extra cautious with email messages that are unfounded and more so those that seek your personal information. You are advised not to fill in the forms that come with such messages.

You will also need to avoid clicking the links that the perpetrators provide in their spoofed messages. The thing to do instead is to look for the company’s number in your telephone directory and call them.

You do not want to download any files that come with these emails either. Some attachments may be included in the emails which may be malicious. You will need an updated antivirus program for such downloads. Keep track of your credit card and bank account statements for identity protection so as to avoid any illegitimate transactions. Report such acts and forward the emails to relevant authorities.

One of the most familiar Nigerian scams occurs when an e-mail is send to you offering a lot of money in exchange for helping another person. These emails come with different offers but the purpose is the same.  For example, you can receive an email asking you to help somebody to recover some money that has been trapped in a foreign country and if you do, you are promised to be rewarded. This return never comes.

Many people would dismiss such emails at first thinking that no one would ever fall for such lies. As time goes by the offenders learn new tricks and the scams are becoming harder and harder to detect. Many of these scams no longer use the familiar trademark details like an overseas bank, the barrister, or even the famous wire payment. In Nigerian scams there are several variations of the traditional scams but most Nigerians are more conversant with what is going on.

Nigerian scams have increased to include than just the emails asking you for help to transfer money from foreign bank accounts. The crime has evolved to scammers participating in lawful online auctions asking the victim to finish with the high bid and send along your details for payments. What these criminals do is to send more than the winning amount and request for some to be wired back. Here, the victim will deposit the check and after they have figured that the buyer is legitimate, they will wire back the average in most cases to a bank account in Nigeria. After some time, the bank will learn that the cashier’s check is counterfeit, so whoever has deposited will be responsible for the lost money and hence the victim will be left without the merchandise and the money they wired.

Here’s a classic example of Nigerian email scams:

Dear Friend

I am. Mr. George Khumalo, Head Accounts Management Section of a well-known Bank here in South Africa .One of our accounts with holding balance of US$6,200,000 (Six Million, Two Hundred Thousand United States Dollar) has been dormant and last operated in the past four (4) years. From investigations and confirmations, the owner of this account is a Hong Kong Foreigner by name Engr Wing Chiu Lee died on the 4th of January 2003 in an automobile accident along Pretoria N1 High-Way.

Since then nobody has done anything as regards to the claiming of this money as he has no family member that is aware of the existence of either the account or the fund. Several attempt to trace any of his relative proof abortive and also Information from the National Immigration office states that late Engr Wing Chiu Lee was single on point of entry into South Africa .

Our Financial Institution is presently and by law the custodian of the money belonging to the deceased, whose account I am responsible for monitoring and officiating. The present mandate I have to present a credible beneficiary opens the way for us to take advantage of the situation and use the money to positively affect the lives of many instead of allowing the funds to be completely lost, since no one knows about the money and no one will come forward to claim the money as we already know.

I have confidentially discussed this issue with some of the bank officials and we have agreed to find a reliable foreign partner to deal with. We thus propose to do business with you, standing in as the next of kin of this fund from the deceased and fund released to you after due processes have been followed. This transaction is totally free of risk and troubles as the fund is Legitimate and does not originate from drug or money laundry.

On your interest, please send to me your contact telephone number, full names, occupation and residential address.

Sincerely,

Mr. George Khumalo

Nigerian scams have taken different forms where Nigerians may offer to donate some amount from charities that are online so the offenders follow the same tactics. For example, a landlord is contacted by a-would-be tenant who promised to pay a deposit by check. Once the landlord agrees to this the renter will claim back some of the money or all the money giving him some excuses. There is another famous way of swindling money in Nigeria which is referred to as internet seduction. What they do is to put online some names of people claiming to be single. They then reach out to a lonely woman sending her some flowers or candy and later they will convince the new lover to do them some favor like asking them to assist in a transfer of online funds. These criminals can also take advantage of the internet Relay system for the deaf to cheat consumers and merchants. Some Nigerians have even gone a notch higher even to create fake banks on the internet which look like they are loaded with the lost money. These signs might convince a buyer that there really is some unclaimed money in an account somewhere. Some of these tricks sound obvious, but most Nigerians are very persistent.

While Nigerian scams are only one form of internet fraud, they have bilked hundreds of millions of dollars from unsuspecting victims.