Phishing

Phishing
What is Phishing?
Phishing is a type of deception designed to steal your identity. In phishing scams, con artists try to convince you to disclose valuable personal data, like credit card numbers, passwords, account data or other information, under false pretences. Phishing schemes can be carried out in person or over the phone, and are delivered online through spam email or pop-up windows.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into your Inbox, there's a new form of spam e-mail on the horizon. This spam is more than just unwanted and annoying, it could lead to the theft of your personal data. Find out more about this new identity theft scam and to learn how to help protect your privacy.
How does phishing work?
A phishing scam may start with con artists who send millions of email messages that appear to come from popular or trusted websites, like your bank or credit card company. They appear official and legitimate, deceiving many unsuspecting people into responding with personal data, such as their credit card numbers.
What does a phishing scam look like?
As scam artists become more sophisticated, so do their phishing email messages and pop-up windows. They often include official-looking logos from real organisations and other identifying information taken directly from legitimate websites.

The following is an example of what a phishing scam email message might look like:
Example of a phishing email message, including a deceptive URL address linking to a scam website.
To make these phishing email messages look even more convincing, the scam artists may place a link in them that appears to go to the legitimate website (1).In fact it takes you to a phoney scam site (2) or possibly a pop-up window that looks exactly like the official site. Once you're at one of these “spoofed” websites, you might unwittingly send personal information to the con artists