Phishing

"Phishing" refers to criminal activity that attempts to fraudulently obtain sensitive information via the Internet. There are several ways a scam artist will try to obtain sensitive information such as your driver's license, social security number, credit card information, or bank account information. Sometimes a scam artist will first send you a benign email (think of this as the bait) to lure you into a conversation and then follow that up with a phishing email. At other times, the scam artist will just send one phishing email.

Here are some questions to ask if you think you have received a phishing attack:

• Do you know the sender of the email? If yes, still be cautious before clicking a link. If no, do not click any links.
• Are there any attachments in the email? If so, is the attachment an executable (a file with the extension .exe, .bat, .com, .vbs, .reg, .msi, .pif, .pl, .php)? If so, do not click on the attachment. Even if the file does not contain one of the above mentioned extensions, be cautious about opening it. Contact the sender to verify its contents.
• Does the email request personal information? If so, do not reply.
• Does the email contain grammatical errors? If so, be suspicious.
• If you have a relationship with the company, are they addressing you by name?
• Have you checked the link? Mouse over the link and check the URL. Does it look legitimate or does it look like it will take you to a different Web site?