Nov 20, 2009 5:13 pm US/Eastern
Tech Minute: Watching Out For Phishing Scams
By BRIAN COOLEY, CNET Editor At Large
SAN FRANCISCO (CNET) ―
-
-
Look out for sub-domains, like ones that take a familiar Web address and then add a little something to it.
CBS
Phishing scams -- spelled with a P-H instead of an F but sounding just like "fishing" -- can get you into some hot water. It starts when you get an honest looking e-mail that tries to trick you into revealing your usernames, passwords and credit card details. According to CNET.com, more than 55,000 phishing attacks were launched in the first half of 2009.
First off, the IRS, PayPal, the FDIC and your bank are never going to send you an e-mail that says "click here to log in." Such agencies know it's too easy for phishers to "impersonate" those kinds of e-mails and lure you into giving up your information.
You can hover your Web browser cursor or right click on the link in an e-mail to reveal where it really links to.
Beware of any link in an e-mail that leads to what you think is a familiar website, but that ends with an international country code instead of dot-com. That's a red flag. For example, twitter.com is your microblogging site; twitter.access-logins.com is not and may be a trap.
Try the same thing for the sender's address of any e-mail you're suspicious of. Just because a link says it goes to johnsmith@yahoo.com does not mean that address is what you'll get when you click it.
Also look out for sub-domains, like ones that take a familiar Web address and then add a little something to it. You don't want to click on those.
Of course, don't click on or open any e-mail attachments you're not totally confident about. You could just be installing a virus or spyware.
Follow these tips, be careful and you could really avoid "taking the bait" when it comes to being phished.
MORE: CNET Anti-Phishing Tools
MORE: CNET Download Security Center
MORE: IRS Suspicious E-Mail, Identity Theft Resources
MORE: Microsoft Online Safety
MORE: Brian Cooley @ CNET.com
Brian Cooley joined CNET in 1995 to launch CNET Radio. Today as Editor at large, he offers commentary about technology on television and radio from the CNET p.o.v. as well as contributing videos to CNET Car Tech and CNET TV.
(© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments