The prevalence of Information Phishing online today is quite alarming. Many of us have received emails that are supposedly from a particlar individual or company requesting that we take a particular action involving submitting personal information to them. But before we continue, let us define Phishing.

A direct quote from webopedia defines it this way: Phishing is “the act of 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. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information.”

So, to make these phishing e-mail messages look even more legitimate, the scam artists may place a link in them that appears to go to the legitimate Web site, but in fact it actually takes you to a phony scam site or possibly a pop-up window that looks exactly like the official site. Another name given to these copycat sites is a “spoofed” Web sites. Once you are at one of these spoofed web sites, you might unwittingly send personal information to the con artists who are running the scam.

How can you tell if an e-mail message is fraudulent. Microsoft offers this advice:

Here are a few phrases to look for if you think an e-mail message is a phishing scam:

“Verify your account.”
Businesses should not ask you to send passwords, login names, Social Security numbers, or other personal information through e-mail.

“If you don’t respond within 48 hours, your account will be closed.”
These messages convey a sense of urgency so that you’ll respond immediately without thinking. Phishing e-mail might even claim that your response is required because your account might have been compromised.

“Dear Valued Customer.”
Phishing e-mail messages are usually sent out in bulk and often do not contain your first or last name.

“Click the link below to gain access to your account.”
HTML-formatted messages can contain links or forms that you can fill out just as you’d fill out a form on a Web site. The links that you are urged to click may contain all or part of a real company’s name and are usually “masked,” meaning that the link you see does not take you to that address but somewhere different, usually a phony Web site.

Be proactive and look out for e-mail messages that may be part of a phishing scam. I hope that this post has served as a guide to help you protect yourself from fraudulent e-mails.