Here’s How Phishing Works

In a typical case, you’ll receive an e-mail that appears to come from a reputable company that you recognize and do business with, such as us.

In some cases, the e-mail may appear to come from a government agency, including one of the federal financial institution regulatory agencies.

The e-mail will probably warn you of a serious problem that requires your immediate attention. It may use phrases such as "Immediate attention required," or "Please contact us immediately about your account."

The e-mail will then encourage you to click on a button to go to the institution’s Web site. In most phishing scams, you are redirected to a phony Web site that is set up to look exactly like the real thing.

You may be asked to update your account information or provide personal information for verification purposes. If you provide the requested information, you may find yourself the victim of identity theft.

How to Protect Yourself

Avoid becoming a victim of phishing scams by remembering these helpful tips:

• Be suspicious of any e-mail with urgent requests for personal financial information unless the e-mail is digitally signed (you can't be sure it wasn't forged or 'spoofed').
  
  Phishers typically: (1) include upsetting or exciting (but false) statements in their e-mail messages to get you to react immediately; (2) ask for confidential information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, account numbers, etc.; and (3) do not personalize the e-mail message (while valid messages from your credit union should be).
  
  
• Don't use the links in an e-mail to get to any web page if you suspect the message might not be authentic. Instead, call the company on the telephone, or log onto the website directly by typing in the Web address in your browser.
  
  
• Avoid filling out forms in e-mail messages that ask for personal financial information. You should only communicate information such as credit card numbers or account information via a secure website or the telephone.
  
  
• Always ensure that you're using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser. To make sure you're on a secure Web server, check the beginning of the Web address in your browser's address bar - it should be "https://" rather than just "http://".
  
  
• Consider installing a Web browser tool bar to help protect you from known phishing fraud websites.
  
  
• Regularly log into your online accounts and don't wait for as long as a month before you check each account.
  
  
• Regularly check your financial institution, credit, and debit card statements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate. If anything is suspicious, contact your financial institution(s) and card issuers.
  
  
• Ensure that your browser is up to date and security patches applied.
  
  
• Always report "phishing" or "spoofed" e-mails to the following groups:

  - Forward the e-mail to reportphishing@antiphishing.com;
  - Forward the e-mail to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov;
  - Forward the e-mail to the "abuse" e-mail address at the company that is being spoofed;
  - When forwarding spoofed messages, always include the entire original e-mail with its original header information intact; and
  - Notify the Internet Fraud Complaint Center of the FBI by filing a complaint on their website: www.ifccfbi.gov/.