How can you tell the difference between a legitimate website and a phishing scam?

Answer 1

E-mail is a useful tool that is often misused to deceive, commit crime, or commit fraud. A scam e-mail is an e-mail that entices the recipient to do business, which will result in their being scammed. The most common scams will be for products or services that will sound "too good to be true."

The best way to identify these e-mails is to be skeptical or wary of any claims. Also pay attention to any details, fine print, or lack thereof. A scam artist will hesitate to provide complete information about himself (or herself). A scam will often try to pressure you into acting quickly to buy or sign up. A good rule of thumb is to never do business with any organization that won't give you complete information or tell you who and where it is. The common phrase is "If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is."

Common e-mail scams include

• The Nigerian scam, which claims that a person in a third world country who has access to a large sum of money needs financial aid to move the funds to the U.S.
• Miracle pills or products that burn lots of fat in amazingly short periods of time.
• Job offers that will allow you to get rich quick.

E-mail is often exploited to "Phish" for your personal information. The message will claim to be from a bank or credit card company that must "verify" your information. Links in the message will take you to phony but authentic-looking web pages where you are to enter your personal information. This will be used to commit identity theft or fraud in your name.

There are a few questions that you can use to identify the legitimacy of an email most of the time.First, was I expecting this email from the sender who's a friend or do I not know the sender. Viruses have the ability to send themselves to contacts on the host computers contact list. This means even if its from a friend the friend who it originated from may not even know it was sent.

Second, is there an file attached to the email or a link in the message. Attachments are usually corrupted software that carries viruses, spyware and other malware.

Third, is the message or headline is little bizzare or shocking. Chances are if either are like this then it is probably a dangerous email. Black hats or people who look for vulnerabilities and then exploit them are constantly sending emails that have shocking headlines to entise users to open the message.

Answer 2

Beware of the email scam if you are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Phishing scam mail can lead to identity theft, to identify and protect yourself from such mails read this research paper.

www.technologystation.net/2012/02/recognize-phishing-scam-e-mails.html

Answer 3

Phishing scams are typically propogated through emails. The crooks send out emails looking like official emails from banks or other financial institutions. They insist that you must click on a link and enter personal information or something dire will happen, but the link actually takes you to a fake website that looks like the real thing. There are lots of websites and blogs talking about phishing. Here is one that really nets it out:

http://keynotesupport.blogspot.com/2009/09/urgent-how-to-avoid-phishing-scams-on.html

Also, when Surfing the web, you should install a free program like McAfee's SiteAdvisor that will display warning symbols next to websites that may not be safe to visit. You can download free code from the McAfee website at:

http://www.siteadvisor.com/

Also, you must have anti-virus software installed and scan with it and some anti-spyware software every week or so. There are excellent, free versions of both types of software available. Only download from a reputable site such as "download.com" - popular brands are AVG and AVAST for anti-virus software, and Ad-Aware for free anti-spyware software.

Remember, if it looks too good to be true, it definitely is! Don't fall for emails or websites that claim you have won a prize. And never click on a link in an email.