The
FBI offers the following tips for Internet users:
- If
you encounter an unsolicited e-mail that asks you,
either directly, or through a web site, for personal
financial or identity information, such as Social
Security number, passwords, or other identifiers,
exercise extreme caution.
- If
you need to update your information online, use
the normal process you've used before, or open
a new browser window and type in the website address
of the legitimate company's account maintenance
page.
- If
a website address is unfamiliar, it's probably
not real. Only use the address that you have used
before, or start at your normal homepage.
- Always
report fraudulent or suspicious e-mail to your
ISP. Reporting instances of spoof web sites will
help get these bogus web sites shut down before
they can do any more harm.
- Most
companies require you to log in to a secure site.
Look for the lock at the bottom of your browser
and "https" in front of the website address.
- Take
note of the header address on the web site. Most
legitimate sites will have a relatively short internet
address that usually depicts the business name
followed by ".com," or possibly ".org." Spoof
sites are more likely to have an excessively long
strong of characters in the header, with the legitimate
business name somewhere in the string, or possibly
not at all.
- If
you have any doubts about an e-mail or website,
contact the legitimate company directly. Make a
copy of the questionable web site's URL address,
send it to the legitimate business and ask if the
request is legitimate.
- If
you've been victimized by a spoofed e-mail or web
site, you should contact your local police or sheriff's
department, and file a complaint with the FBI's
Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.
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