Phishing scams are situations created by identity thieves where they pretend to already know some information about you in order to gain access to your personal information. For example, you might receive an email or instant message that appears to be from your bank or lender. You will be asked to confirm your bank account number, or any other sensitive information. Sometimes you may face severe consequences if this is not done immediately. These scams can be very dangerous and millions fall for them every year.
Keep your email and instant message addresses private
To avoid being tempted to reply to a phishing email scam, it is best to stop them from reaching your inbox in the first place. One email address is for financial institutions and one for general, or public, use. Many email providers will allow you to redirect emails from each of these different addresses to one account to minimize the inconvenience of checking each account. Do everything possible to keep the https://www.washingtonpost.com/newssearch/?query=phishing prevent address you use for financial transactions as private as possible.
Immediately Report Suspected Phishing Contacts
Call the customer service number immediately if you receive a message that you suspect is phishing. In addition, almost every bank and credit card lender has a website where you can report suspicious emails and instant messages. Usually, they will ask for you to fill in a form that will give enough information to trace who the perpetrator is.
Limit your dialogue
Many people who have their identities stolen are angry, as you might imagine. Many of these people have formed watch-groups and offer a variety of support services. Some are good, some are bad. They might also encourage you to communicate with the perpetrator and attempt to play mind games with him or her. However, some phishing perpetrators prevention of phishing are violent criminals - the best thing you can do is simply report their activities and move on with your life.
Phishers can make your life more difficult than it is worth. Sometimes, they may send you repeated emails. Most of these messages will be automated in most cases. This means that you won't have to try to make sense of the emails. If you feel the need to, keep them coming up to your bank or the FBI. Although you might be tempted send a nasty note to the perpetrator, it's better to just set up a spam filter and ignore them.
For the most part, phishing will not interfere with your life if you do not allow yourself to fall for it. If you are threatened with losing your bank account access, it can be easy to justify giving away sensitive information. In every case of phishing, one simple phone call to the bank or lender would have made the situation very clear to the victim and prevented the crime entirely. It is best to report any phishing suspicions and let the bank or authorities handle it.