Checking a Website is Real

Online phishing is a growing crime which is putting millions of people at risk. Phishing is a type of scam where the scammers try to find out about your personal details. They normally do this by sending you an email requesting some of your personal information.

If these emails blatantly asked you for these details then you probably wouldn't fall for it. However, these emails are much cleverer. The emails will generally tell you that the security of your account has been compromised. They will then tell you that you need to click on a link and fill in some of your personal information.

Checking A Site Is Real

If you ever receive an email from your bank or other financial institution then it's important you make sure it's real. It's actually much better never to click links in emails. You should instead visit the banks website by typing in the domain name into your browser.

You can also check that a site is real by phoning your bank and making sure they requested the information from you. You can also determine whether a website is genuine or not by looking at the language used on the site.

If the site is fake then the quality of the language is normally very poor. If the site doesn't make sense or has lots of grammatical errors then this is a good indicator that the site is fake. Any real bank websites are normally of very high quality.

Avoiding Phishing Attacks

There are also other ways that you can use to protect yourself from phishing scams and attacks. You must be very cautious with your financial details. You should keep track of all your finances; make sure that you check your bank and credit card statements every month.

Downloads

You must be extremely careful whenever you are downloading anything from the internet. These could compromise the security of your computer and put your identity at risk. It's also important to be careful when opening attachments from emails. These attachments could be very damaging to the health of your computer.

To protect yourself from downloads which could compromise your security you need to download and install an antivirus application. These applications will help to keep your PC protected and secure.

Suspected Phishing Attacks

If you receive any emails which are suspicious then you should email them to your ISP or bank. Many banks have an abuse email set up to deal with these enquiries.

If you are the victim of a phishing attack then it's important to get it sorted as soon as possible. This will limit the costs and hassle of dealing with the crime.

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86% of email addresses posted on websites are used by spammers to send unsolicited emails?

63% of all "Remove me from your list" requests are not honored.

Spam accounted for 80% of all e-mail received in 2004, up from 62% in 2003