Avoid falling victim to a phishing scam

Phishing is a criminal process that electronically acquires someone’s personal information for the purpose of identity theft or credit fraud. Scammers typically use email to impersonate an official bank or company. The message contains fraudulent URLs and phone numbers, which victims are encouraged to click or call in order to hand over their personal information (unwittingly, of course). Often the email also tells the victim that their account has been hacked or overdrawn, intimidating them into quick action.

As a rule of thumb, you should be wary of any email that asks for personal information like account numbers, Social Security numbers, passwords or any other identifying or financial information. Banks and other service providers aren’t likely to use email to request this type of information. Below are a few tips that will help you avoid being the next “big one” caught by a phishing scam.

Think critically.

If you receive an email asking you to “confirm” or otherwise provide personal information, read the message carefully. Check for red flags like grammatical errors, spelling mistakes or otherwise confusing language. Then ask yourself a few critical questions:

•  Do I usually receive emails from this company?

•  Have I submitted my email address to this company or financial institution?

•  Is the information they’re communicating accurate and relevant to my account?

Call — don’t click.

Any time you receive an email asking for your personal information, look up the company’s telephone number from an independent directory and call them directly. Should the email provide you with a phone number, don’t call this number; it might lead to an agent working for the scammer who’s waiting to collect your personal information. Likewise, don’t click on any URLs in the email, as they often lead to fake websites that collect personal information for criminal purposes.

Once you’re sure that you’ve reached the legitimate institution, ask them if they’ve been attempting to contact you via email. If they haven’t, let them know that you’ve received a fraudulent email attempting to impersonate them.

Monitor your credit.

Monitoring your credit is a great way to keep track of your finances and overal financial identity. You can obtain one free credit report per year form the major bureaus, and for a small fee you can obtain these reports more frequently.

Your online banking history is easy to track. Check your account often to make sure that only transactions authorized by you appear on your record. Phishing scams can often complete their processes without your realizing that you’ve have been attacked, so it’s important to stay on top of your banking and credit history to ensure that everything is up to date and accurate.