What is phishing?

Have you heard about it? The number of persons, who have encountered this kind of crime, is increasing day-to-day. First, I will give you a simple definition about phishing that is when online confidential and important information of a person is obtained and stolen by another. This stolen information is for example usernames and passwords, credit card information, bank accounts, number and other personal information such as birth dates. Although many people think that phishers are amateurs, I should say that phishers are creative persons that can use any kind of technology and invest in it.

There is a famous case about phishing happened recently. This case is about PayPal which in it the phisher sent emails to people, asking them to call and there was a telephone number within those emails. When people called them, they were requested to provide their credit card details for getting their account verified. Something important about this case was that the mails which were sent to people had no response address or internet link and when users called the phone, and then they were greeted by an automated voice saying “please type your 16-digit numbers”. Although the number provided on the email was in America and because so many people around the world are dealing with PayPal, they were simply tricked to give their information to the phisher as well.

This case brings concerns for those companies who are dealing with their customers online. I think when things such this case happened so people should be more aware of the dangers related to these types of scams. And also I think they should be more aware of various types of phishing scams that are taking place on the internet and learning how they can prevent themselves can reduce the number of victims.

source:http://www.cybercellmumbai.com