Page 71 - Book4E

Warning about email and internet fraud
One of the easiest ways scammers are "phishing" for your personal information today is through your email inbox. You have probably seen multiple emails from foreign "princes" who's inheritance is tied up in court asking for your cash to fund their appeal for a later cut of the fortune (sound too good to be true? YES!). It gets worse. Foreign scammers are posing as local financial institutions, even masking their true email return address, and offering warnings about possible breaches in your account. They ask you to verify information but the link provided in the email will redirect you to their made up site—tricking you into entering your bank account login information and passwords.
Scammers are also using auction sites like Ebay and Craigslist to bid on large ticket items posted for sale. They offer not one but two payment checks for the item, one of which you are asked to cash and return to them or their "broker". You then become part of an international money laundering scam, exposing your personal information in the process.
As a general rule never use email links to get to your secure accounts, always go directly to the URL. Also, many email services like Yahoo and Gmail will allow you to set up a junk mail or spam box to help you weed out these fraudulent emails.
credit report, and the existence and size of your savings and investment portfolios. Keep in mind that some information about you may be a matter of public record, such as whether you own a home, pay your real estate taxes, or have ever filed for bankruptcy. It is not pretexting for another person to collect this kind of information.
But remember, it’s illegal for anyone to:
• use false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or documents to get customer information from a financial institution or directly from a customer of a financial institution;
• use forged, counterfeit, lost, or stolen documents to get customer information from a financial institution or directly from a customer of a financial institution; and
Stay Alert for Identity Theft 61