Phishing is a type of fraud whereby criminal attempts to trick their victim into accepting a false identity presented by the criminal. Phishers use e-mail or fake website to steal your private information. If you don’t want to be the next victim of identity theft then you can protect yourself by gaining some knowledge about it.

Being informed about the spam emails and spoofed website you can guard yourself against internet scams. You can learn how to recognize spam email or spoofed website by looking at some factors. For instance, spam emails always contain a company logo and look official but when you look closely there might be some mistake. For example, language doesn’t sound quite right. Legitimate companies never ask you to verify your account using email or to send your account detail via email. To make sure everything is correct simply visit that website without clicking any link in email.

Secondly don’t get panic when you get the email saying your account will be shut down until and unless you verify your account or provide necessary data. Organizations never do business in such a manner. If you are concerned about your account call them directly.

Genuine email from an organization or from a bank usually contain your name, whereas the phishers send email in bulk so it won’t be personalized. Avoid clicking on the link embedded in the email. Always visit the site on your own by typing it into your web browser and visiting it directly.

While entering the credit card number do check that the site is authentic and utilizes encryption to secure the information. Look at the locked icon on the corner of your web browser. The web address should also begin with “https” rather than a “http.”

Another way to avoid scams is to keep your operating system and web browser up to date, do care to update it and also install the security patch when ever it is released.

Quick Tip: Use good firewall, anti-virus and antispyware as this these programs reduce the amount of e-mails phishing scams that come your way.