Washington Mutual. Wachovia. IndyMac Bankcorp. First National Bank of Nevada. Lehman Brothers. First Heritage Bank of California.
That’s just a few of the financial institutions that have folded so far in 2008. Millions of Americans have been affected by failures, bailouts and buyouts this years, leaving many confused about just who is holding their accounts. And all that confusion and fear makes them easy targets for identity thieves who have taken the opportunity to send out millions of phishing emails under the guise of clarifying things for account holders.
How to recognize a phishing attack
- Most importantly, know that no financial institution is going to ask you for personal or financial information by email. If the email you receive asks for that info, call the financial information and report it.
- Don’t be fooled because the email has a convincing logo or graphics. It’s easy to cut and paste or duplicate artwork from an authentic website into a phishing email.
- Check carefully for spelling or grammar errors. Bank officers and stockbrokers are typically smarter and better educated than ID thieves.
- Never click on links in an email sent by someone you don’t know. Don’t cut and paste the URL into your browser. Instead, close the email and go directly to the financial institution’s website. If they wanted to get a message out to their customers, it would be posted there.
- Check for the padlock icon at the bottom of the page. That icon indicates that the page is secured. If it’s not there, you’re being scammed.
If you’ve ever fallen for a phishing email, you’re not alone; in 2007, 3.6 million Americans lost $3.2 billion to phishing scams.
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