Spotting Phishing Scams Has Become More Difficult Through The Years As Scammers Become Even More Subversive
Over time, phishing scams have evolved. From relying solely on victims' innocence to lead them into disclosing in depth private information, it has evolved into a more highly sophisticated crime which only requires that victims use the Internet to pay bills or make purchases online.
During the early days, phishers masqueraded as representatives of legit businesses to lure their victims. They usually initiated contact through instant messages or e-mails, requesting victims to visit a fake website they created to increase their appearance of legality.
On the online page, victims were asked to enter personal data such as their social security number, bank account number or bank account balances thinking they were validating their own account information at the request of the company. Once the personal data was entered, the victim's identity was placed at risk and their accounts were vulnerable to being sabotaged by fraudulent activity.
As shoppers caught on to the phishing scams and phishing filters got more extensively used, unscrupulous criminals had to resort to more subversive techniques to commit their crimes.
Through the use of Trojans and spyware and key loggers, phishers could plant "bugs" into the hard drives of desktops which do their dirty work for them. Phishers also depend on phony e-mails and Websites to entice victims, but they no longer have to rely on victims making the mistake of entering their own private data.
Today's phishing scams only require that people click on an e-mail link to a fake website. Once there, the victim's machine becomes infected with what looks like a benign virus. It is going to lie dormant on the computer until the next time that the victim goes to their banking Web site. At that time, the spyware or Trojan keeps just the private information the criminal wants and transmits it back to them at a later time.
As phishing scams become much more sophisticated, it becomes more important than ever for Internet users to be careful in their internet dealings. It is especially hazardous to click on unsolicited e-mail links that relate to your online accounts.
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