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[W458]What Is Anti Phishing

by Thomas Tooma, Tho

Phishing is a one of the fastest-growing cybercrimes and costs consumers millions of dollars each year. Pronounced "fishing", is named from spammers using fraudulent email messages to "fish" for information in an attempt to get their recipients to divulging personal data like credit card numbers, bank account numbers, social security numbers, and passwords.

This scam typically works like this: a scammer sends you an email message making it seem like it is an official message from a company you may have financial or other interests with, like your bank, PayPal, or eBay, and ask for your personal information such as social security number, account number or password. These emails are also becoming more personalized, making them more believable to their victims and has become such a problem on AOL that they added a message on their instant messenger stating: The rapidly growing class of identity theft scams on the internet has caused both short-term and long-term economic damage, faced by millions of people every day. First appearing more than ten years ago, phishing has grown to become the international electronic crime of choice for both amateurs and professionals alike. "no one working at AOL will ask for your password or billing information". These types of attacks have outnumbered e-mails infected with viruses and trojans. Most methods of phishing use some form of deception designed to make a link in an email appear to belong to a legitimate organization, while in fact it sends you to a bogus website. If you get a suspicious email contains a URL link, don't click on it, roll your mouse over the link and see if it matches what appears in the email. Learn to recognize spoof emails by checking web addresses and security indicators, such as a locked padlock on the browser frame. As a general rule, never click on emails coming from unknown sources. Spam filters can help by reducing the number of phishing emails that users receive, however spammers often use poor spelling, bad grammar, missing words and logic gaps to get around the filters.

Phishing is the fastest growing crime which everyone on the internet is susceptible to, an old con game taking advantage of new technology. It is so prevalent because it is such a low-cost and low-effort activity. Phishing attacks are likely to grow more sophisticated and our defenses against them must continue to improve to combat them.

If you use the internet and have an email address, there is no doubt that you have received a fraudulent email asking you to verify your account information. Many criminals will pose as your bank or credit card company, and will ask for your information in order "verify" your account. In reality, once this information is provided, you are likely to become the victim of a fraud called phishing. This is one of the most notorious forms of internet fraud, and has seen a growth in recent years with the increase in email usage.

Because it costs nothing to send out an email, it is possible to send out hundreds of thousands of emails within a short time. Criminals know that despite the fact that many people will ignore these emails, a small percentage of recipients will reply. Once this information has been received, criminals will use to it defraud customers, running up high bills or making expensive purchases. Some will even use this information for identity theft. To stop this fraud, a number of anti phishing services are available online.

These services offer software which will track fraudulent email and websites. Many people use this anti phishing software, and by joining them you will be able to fight back against phishing. Many anti phishing services will have a database in which they keep a list of fraudulent websites. They will help you avoid fraudulent emails sent by criminals who wish to take yout data to defraud you. If you have never received a fraudulent email, or have never been to a fake website, you are fortunate.

However, as use of the internet continues to increase, more people will become the victims of fraud unless they take steps to permit it. Despite the fact that there have been many media reports about phishing, and people have been warned never to give sensitive information via email, many still do. This is why it is important to use ant phishing software which will stop you from becoming a victim. Many large companies such as AOL plan to fight the problem by charging customers to send out emails.

This isn't the answer, and people shouldn't have to pay in order to be protected. Gralic Wrap is a online service which offers anti phishing software free of charge, and can be found at gralicwrap.com. They offer a phishing protection tool along with a large database of fraudulent sites which will keep you protected and informed. You have the right to use the internet without fear of being defrauded, and you shouldn't have to resort to paying for emails in order to avoid becoming the victim of fraud.

Phishing is a problem which is only expected to get worse. Criminals are discovering new tricks daily on how to defraud their victims. Though you don't have to understand how these tricks work, it is important to take the fundamental steps necessary to protect you and your family. Fraud is costly, and millions of dollars each year are lost due to internet fraud.

Article Source : Anti Phishing

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Both Thomas Tooma & Ameet Arurkar are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Thomas Tooma has sinced written about articles on various topics from Hair Removal, Home Improvement and Real Estate. Thomas Tooma. Thomas Tooma's top article generates over 18100 views. Bookmark Thomas Tooma to your Favourites.

Ameet Arurkar has sinced written about articles on various topics from Software, Kids and Teens and Web Development. ABOUT AUTHOR: Ameet Arurkar is the Founder President of Stargate Holdings Inc. He has served as the President of Valvola Corporation and the Managing Director of Intelisys India Ltd and has an experience of over 8 years in. Ameet Arurkar's top article generates over 1900 views. Bookmark Ameet Arurkar to your Favourites.