Phishing. No it's not going to see the popular jam band�Phish or some new form of aquatic hunting.
Phishing, also known as carding and brand spoofing, is growingin popularity among Internet scam artists. It's a form of identitytheft that mimics well-known Web sites such as AOL, eBay and evensome government sites in efforts to make people submit personalinformation, including credit card information and Social Securitynumbers, by way of e-mail or a link to a fake Web site.
"Phishing is a two-time scam," said Timothy J. Muris, chairmanof the Federal Trade Commission, in a prepared statement. "Phishersfirst steal a company's identity and then use it to victimizeconsumers by stealing their credit identities."
Chris Causie, a U of M junior journalism major, received a spoofe-mail, disguised as an e-mail from the popular auction site,eBay.
"They asked me for credit card information and said they wouldterminate or suspend my membership if I didn't give them theinformation," said Causie. "And it told me to continue buying andselling I must have valid account information, but I've been buyingand selling for a while and have never heard from eBay about beingterminated or warned before this."
The e-mail asking for the personal information seemed suspiciousto Causie, who promptly notified eBay. A representative from theonline bidding Web site company replied, saying they would neversend e-mail asking for specific personal information such as creditcard numbers.
Between October 2003 and March 2004, the number of Phishingscams has increased 1,200 percent, according to reports fromMessageLabs, Inc. Among the most targeted banks and onlinetransaction companies are Bank of America, Visa, Wachovia andPaypal. The two most targeted organizations are Citibank andeBay.
There are simple ways to protect against Phishing, according tothe FTC.
Legitimate companies do not ask for personal information throughe-mail, so consumers should be cautious of what they aremailing.
People concerned about their accounts, or who receive suspiciouse-mail, should contact the organization in question using atelephone number they know to be genuine or by opening a newbrowser window and typing the company's correct Web address.
When monthly credit cards statements come in, cardholders shouldreview them as soon as possible to be certain the purchases on thestatement are not fraudulent.
