Phishing Scam Serves as a Reminder

According to an article in the Northern Star, a student newspaper at Northern Illinois University, a number of residents throughout the Dekalb, Illinois area have been recent victims of a phone phishing scam.  Apparently, these automated phone messages, also known as robocalls, have been getting sent out to residents in an attempt to collect credit card information from innocent victims.  Thankfully, the paper reports that no one had reportedly lost any money from any of the phone calls, but it serves as a reminder that you must always be aware of potential scammers and you should take certain steps to keep yourself and those around you safe from becoming victims.

Phishing is a term used to describe what these scam artists do in an effort to cast out a line in hopes of catching a victim.  In other words, those who set up the phishing scams aren’t targeting any one person in particular.  Rather, they send out mass emails, make mass robocalls, or mail out mass letters in hopes of getting someone to bite on their scam.  In the Dekalb phishing case, for example, the scammers created this automated phone message that was sent out in mass stating that there was a problem with the person’s credit card and to call a 1-800 number in order to fix the problem.

In order to make the phishing scam appear legitimate, the scammers will usually mention the name of an actual bank.  Of course, you may not even be a customer of this bank, but the scammer is hoping that you are and that you’ll believe the call or email is legitimate.  The scammers are also hoping to scare you into giving out your information by claiming there’s a problem with your account and then asking for your account information. 

How Do You Handle Phishing?

If you have received a phishing phone call, you should contact your local law enforcement agency and provide as many details as possible about the the call itself.  The more information you can provide, the better the law enforcement officials will be able to track down the scammers and warn others about it.  You should also contact the institution that claimed to be represented so the company can take steps to warn other customers.

If you receive a phishing email, you should also take steps to notify the proper authorities.  The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, known as US-CERT, is a governmental organization that collects phishing email information in order to help protect the general public.  You may also want to send information to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), which is a volunteer organization providing guidelines help prevent and report phishing attacks. 

In addition to contacting these two organizations, you should definitely contact the institution being represented, whether it’s a bank or credit card company that was being represented by the phisher.  If you received an email, you should contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP) about it as well.  By alerting your ISP of the problem immediately, they can take quick action to either block the emails from being sent out or by directly sending out a warning to all of their account holders who might be affected. 

To stop these pernicious attacks, it always helps to try and promote a sense of civic responsibility to help stave off this type of crime.  So, make the calls and alert the proper authorities about this stuff.  Every little bit helps…

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 17th, 2008 at 8:42 pm and is filed under Card Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.