Phishing - Be Aware

The “Cascading Effect” is when one problem leads to another, which in turn leads to another, which again – well you get the idea. Computers are highly prone to this principle. A case in point: Last Friday, my Outlook program slowed to a crawl and started crashing. A little investigation revealed the problem – my Outlook file had grown to its maximum allowable size of 2 Gbytes. Even as I tried to delete the contents of my “Deleted Items” folder, the program would repeatedly crash. I eventually got the problem resolved, which was a long and complex process, but in the process my anti-spam add-in program somehow disabled itself.

So here begins the “Cascading Effect”. Having put so much time and effort into getting my email functioning again, I put off fixing the anti-spam solution I had been using. Consequently, I had to manually discern what email was spam and what email was genuine – and on Saturday morning, before I was fully awake or had had any coffee, I got PHISHED.

Phishing is a sophisticated type of spam message that cons the reader into believing that the email is from a reputable and valid sender. In this case, I got 10 emails (First Obvious Clue) from eBay, with the subject line entitled “Security Management” (Second Obvious Clue) saying that my eBay account had been set to a “limited access” status. If I wanted to restore my account, it said, follow the link below, log in, and re-enter my credit card information (Third Obvious Clue). Still the coffee had not infused itself into my bloodstream, and the alarm bell did not yet go off. I clicked on the link, and sure enough I was presented with the familiar eBay login page. As I began to enter my username and password (which was usually memorized – how odd – Fourth Obvious Clue), I checked the website address and realized I had been duped. It was a very convincing fake login page; but the address in the address bar was not from eBay (Fifth Obvious Clue).

Had I entered my username and password, the Phisher would then have access to my eBay account and could start bidding and buying. Not the end of the world if you immediately recognize the scam, you simply login at the genuine site and change the password. If you fill in credit card information and send it back to the phisher, this is more serious: you must immediately call your credit card company and cancel the credit card.

I got lucky – mercifully the coffee finally kicked in, and I avoided the Sixth Obvious Clue, which would have been a maxed-out credit card statement.

Phishers usually target bank accounts. If you ever get an email from what appears to be your bank, asking to verify account information, BEWARE - BANKS NEVER DO THIS! Some evil bastard is phishing his way into your bank account. This is identity theft. Immediately report the email to your bank and to your ISP, and do your part to shut the perpetrator down.

First Lesson: Never check your email until you have had at least one coffee. Second Lesson: Keep Your Spam Blocking solution working, together with your antivirus and anti-spyware solutions. If you don’t have it, get it. Third and Most Important Lesson: Your Bank Will Never Ask To Confirm Your Bank Account Information!