The 28-year-old woman, who was being suspected to be phishing syndicate, creates Legal Issue on phising. I personally feel that the four victims, all professionals who lost more than RM100,000 had become the victims of phising scam because of the constructive techinques of the perpetrator where the victim is prompted to key in their password and PIN numbers, ostensibly to upgrade security features.
To the point, phishing refers to the act of sending an e-mail from perpetrator to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft such as usernames, passwords and credit card details. E-mail fraudster registers dozens of lookalike domain names, such as yahoo-billing.com and ebay-fulfillment.com. They also create Web sites that contain the names of well-known companies and brands like Amcore Bank, Amazon.com, MSN, yahoo and Amcore Bank.
Prevention is better than cure. There are some methods to prevent Phishing:
1. Never open an email link, if it claims to be from a bank, or credit card company.
2. Don’t provide any answer if you get calls over the telephone claiming that its from your bank or some other agency and they are trying to get your information.
3. Protect your computer from spyware and viruses.
4. Be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files from emails you received, regardless of who sent them.
5. Change your passwords monthly. It is advisable to change your password at least once a month and try to select passwords that will not be obvious to potential hackers.
6. Next time you visit your bank's website, make sure you have the right web address, or uniform resource locator (URL)!
Keep in mind these few golden steps. Or else, phising may perishes you.
References:
http://www.fairwinds.org/security/Types/fraud_phish.asp
