Phishing by crooks is essentially a crime where they lure you to a seemingly innocent web site and convince you to enter confidential information, usually personal details and bank account umbers, usernames and passwords.

It is easy to become avictim unless you are alert to the possibility when checking your emails. In a June 2004 experiment, 80% of 500 West Point cadets who were sent a phishing e-mail were tricked into revealing personal information.

Here are some easy steps to avoid becoming a victim of phishing:

1. Never enter confidential details when requested by email unless you both know AND trust the source of the email. Be aware that the source (or sender) of an email can be forged so that it looks as if it came from a legitimate company such as your bank. Because of past phishing scams banks will NEVER ask for your password by email. Period. UK banks rarely use emails now except for sending marketing information.
2. Most companies personalise emails that they send to customers e.g. Dear Mr Smith or using a username e.g. dell8756. So an email that is generic about the name e.g. “Dear Customer” is potentially fraudulent.
3. Most phishing emails originate in China, Taiwan, South Korea and Russia so beware any websites in those country domains, particularly if you have no reason to do business with or know anyone in those countries.
4. Always verify a website when being sent there from a link in either an email or an other website. You can use www.whois.com or http://www.nominet.org.uk. Remember, if a legitimate bank website asks for a password it will go secure ie the URL will begin https:// rather than http://.  You will find this is not the case with phishing websites as it requires the issuing of a security certificate to be able to go secure and it is very difficult for fraudster to get one of these certificates.
5. Beware of link manipulation. Criminals are clever at making links look like they are going to legitimate sites but in the lower left hand corner of most browsers you can preview and verify where the link is actually going to take you. See point 3 supra. URLs can be complex to read so don’t take a chance if you are unsure.
6. Use anti-phishing software – the software searches for text that is often contained within phishing emails e.g. Symantec However, be aware that phishers can use images instead of text to fool anti-phishing software.
7. Toolbars – many toolbars released for use in Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers will warn users when they visit a suspected phishing site e.g. Google as do the most popular browsers.
8. If you suspect you have been the target of a phishing attack, change your password immediately. Also inform your bank, credit card company if you think your account may be compromised. It is a lot easier to prevent the removal of funds than to spend days maybe weeks trying to recover money taken from your account by fraud.
9. Don’t use the same password for more than one account or website
10. Don’t use passwords that are actual words, names, people, pets, sports teams. Not only are these easy for people who know you to guess but software programs used to hack accounts will use these obvious words when searching.
11. Change your password regularly