Phishing

The first time I heard the term Phishing (Pronounced: FISH-ing) was when Philippe, my Management Information Systems professor, said, “does anyone know what fishing is?” I thought it was a trick question, you know...rod, and worm and hook…All I can say is that I am glad I did not raise my hand to answer that question! Apparently, Phishing is a spoof-email that one receives; it appears to be from an organization that you trust, it appears to be authentic with the use of that organization’s logo and header, they tell you that you need to urgently sign into your account or your account will be cancelled or something of that nature. As you click on the link which brings you to a fake web page, the culprits behind this scam receive you user name and password and immediately have access to your personal financial information.

I find this very disturbing especially for individuals who have never heard of such email scams. I have personally received such an email from an individual or group of individuals pretending to be a representatives from Paypal, I can tell you that it appeared to be authentic and fortunately for me, ebay had already advise me of this type of scam, so I immediately recognized it and reported it to officials.

For more information on how to avoid Phishing visit your financial institutions’ website, most of them will give you information on how to recognize a spoof-email and what to do if you should receive one.