In the past year, Guardian
eCommerce Security has received thousands of
complaints pertaining to email fraud and/or phishing scams. If you are connected
to the Internet, be on the alert for email fraud and phishing scams, in
all their deceptive forms! More specifically, watch out for email fraud
or 'phishing scams': where
the perpetrator(s) send out legitimate-looking, but phony e-mails (the act
of phishing) or Web sites appearing to come from a legitimate company in an effort
to phish (pronounced 'fish') for personal and financial information from the
email recipient. Be aware of phishing scams or email fraud in
legitimate looking emails with links to Web sites coming from parties pretending
to be legitimate companies requesting personal or financial information. Be also
on the look out for phishing scams or email fraud in legitimate looking emails
that threaten action against you for failing to respond, again, appearing to
come from a legitimate company.
Legitimate companies WILL NOT request personal information through email. If
you receive one of these emails, safely assume in such cases it is email fraud or
one of the countless phishing scams out there today. If you receive any email
of suspicious nature, DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY, and DO NOT respond or act on
whatever the email states. Always remember, most companies, including
financial institutions, WILL NEVER send customers an e-mail asking for
passwords, account numbers or personal information. If you receive such an
email, assume it is email fraud or one of those phishing scams circulating
today.
Latest Email Fraud And Phishing
Scams: Be on the ALERT for ANY legitimate-looking
emails that seem to originate from PayPal, Ebay, IRS (U.S. Internal Revenue
Service), and even countless banking institutions. Most of these companies WILL
NOT EMAIL YOU. Delete these messages immediately! Chances are likely, such emails
are linked to email fraud and/or phishing scams!
Then MAKE SURE TO DELETE all emails pertaining to lottery wins or inheritance gained. As for lotteries,
you cannot win any lottery of any kind for which you have never entered in the first place! As for all other
emails pertaining to 'new found wealths' (i.e. lost millions found, inheritance, etc.)... delete these emails.
These emails are all scams!
View the following tips for email fraud prevention and
email safety:
- Do not provide confidential personal or banking information
to anyone in an email.
- Be suspicious of email attachments from unknown sources, DO NOT OPEN
THE ATTACHMENTS, EVER!
- If you do not know or recognize the sender of the email, do not open
the attachment (delete the email immediately).
- Do not set your email program to 'auto-run' attachments.
- Always check that emails you have received do not contain viruses by
running your anti-virus software when the email attachment is received.
- WHEN IN DOUBT WITH ANY EMAIL, SIMPLY DELETE THE EMAIL!
Email Fraud, Phishing Scams, And Fake Emails Will
Often:
- Ask you for personal information. Fake
emails (email fraud
and phishing scams) often contain an overly generic greeting and may claim
that your information has been compromised, that your account has been
frozen, or ask you to confirm the authenticity of your transactions.
- Appear to be from a legitimate source. While
some emails are easy to
identify as fraudulent, (i.e. email fraud or phishing scams) others may
appear to be from a legitimate address and trusted online source. They simply
fool so many online consumers because these emails look so real. However,
you should not rely on the name or address in the 'From' field, as this
is easily altered. Remember, most of these major reputable companies
WILL NOT SEND emails to their clients. Look at the URL of the online
source! Read this example of email fraud, from an online consumer
who chose to report Internet fraud to Guardian eCommerce Security:
the complaintee received a legitimate-looking email and was dooped
into paying a $1500 fee for
a cash loan from 'Great West Bank'. However, one look at the URL of the
legitimate-looking Web site she was automatically linked
to (from the email) showed that
instead of viewing the site with http://www.greatwestbank.com in the url
address field, she was connected to http://www.greatvvestbank.com, (look
closely, the vv or 'vee vee' looks like a w or 'double-you' in the address
field, which easily fooled her). Instead of being connected to the real
legitimate site for Great West Bank, she was connected to a spoof or fake site
instead. Typical of email fraud or phishing scams, they will
fool you!
- Contain fraudulent job offers. Some
fake emails appear to be from
companies offering jobs. These are often work-at-home accounting positions
which are actually schemes that victimize both the job applicant and
other customers. Be sure to confirm that the job offer is from a known and
trusted company or else safely initiate email fraud prevention.
- Contain prizes or gift certificate offers. Some
phishing scams or
perpetrators of email fraud promise a prize or gift certificate in
exchange for completing a survey or answering questions. In order to collect
the alleged prize or gift certificate you may be directed to provide your
personal information. Just like with job offers, be sure to confirm that
prize or gift certificate is being issued from a known and trusted company.
- Link to counterfeit Web sites. Phishing scams or
fake emails may direct
you to counterfeit Web sites carefully designed to look real, but which
actually collect personal information for illegal use. This is arguably
the ugliest form of email fraud!
- Link to real Web sites. In
addition to links to counterfeit Web sites,
some phishing scams or fake emails also include links to legitimate Web sites.
The perpetrators of email fraud do this in an attempt to make a fake email
appear real!
- Contain fraudulent phone numbers. Fake emails
or phishing scams often
contain telephone numbers that are tied to the fraudsters. Never call a
number featured on an email you suspect is fraudulent, and be sure to
double-check any numbers you do call.
- Contain real phone numbers. Some of the
telephone numbers listed in fake
emails may be legitimate, connecting to actual companies. Just like with
links, fraudsters include the real phone numbers in an effort to make the
email appear to be legitimate. Don't be fooled by fake 1-800 toll free
numbers neither!
- Contain anything that seems too good to be true. If it
seems too good to
be true, it usually is! Don't be fooled by fake emails or phishing scams
seeking fees-for-loans, fees-for-jobs, membership premiums for lottery
clubs, or promising improved IRS refunds, and/or etc. There are literally
thousands of these kinds of emails circulating right now! DON'T BE FOOLED!
Remember NO government agency, bank, or other legitimate
functioning company will contact you by email. Specifically, if you receive
an email from any one of the companies listed below, simply delete the
message, (it is likely email fraud). Report Internet fraud, report Internet
scams, and/or report phishing scams always... help Guardian eCommerce's drive
for a safe Internet community.
Report
email fraud, report Internet scams, and/or report Internet fraud
here >>
.
Special IRS Notice: If you receive an email from
the IRS, (U.S. Internal
Revenue Service), there is a 99.99% chance that this email is fake!
Please forward this fake email to: IRS
(Internal Revenue Service) for follow-up and investigation.
