I received this email at work and thought I would share it with my readers...
As the holidays approach we want to make you aware of possible e-mail scams that can be directed to your work or personal email accounts. This is an opportune time for such activity. One such scam is known as phishing. Phishing is an attempt by individuals or groups to fraudulently obtain your personal information by tricking you into providing it. They may appear as:
· Electronic greeting cards
· Requests from charitable organizations
· Holiday chain-letters or screensavers
· Online shopping confirmations
· Credit card applications
In general:
· Do not respond to emails requesting personal information including "please verify your information" or "confirm your user-id and password."
· Avoid providing personal information on social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Set your privacy and security settings at the most restrictive levels. This will help limit the information scammers can gather about you and can use against you in a phishing attack.
· Exercise caution with all emails you receive as they can be fake. This includes email from friends and sources you normally trust. Do not open attachments contained in suspicious emails.
· Beware of emails that reference any consequences should you not "verify your information".
Phishers are crafty and known to send very official looking correspondence. Generally no legitimate organization will ever solicit sensitive personal information through the internet. If you receive a phishing email through your personal email account just delete it.
Image from Texas State
