Beware Of Identity Theft Traps
"Phishing" and "pharming" are two increasingly popular scams that identity thieves use to steal your personal financial information.
Phishing
Phishers try to trick you into providing personal financial information by sending e-mails that appear to be from legitimate businesses. They say there has been a problem with your account and you must re-enter or verify your information or it will be closed. You may be asked to respond to the e-mail, or there may be a link to a web site.
Don't do it. Any information you enter will end up in the hands of identity thieves. Legitimate businesses will never ask you to provide personal financial information by e-mail.
Also never open links in a suspicious e-mail. Sometimes scammers plant "Trojan Horses" on your computer that record your keystrokes and send them to thieves.
Pharming
Pharming is a more sophisticated form of identity theft. Hackers break into the online address of a legitimate business and change it so that anyone who types the real address is directed to a counterfeit site created by the thieves. People enter their personal information, never suspecting that the site is fake.
To protect yourself, look for an icon on the web pages indicating Secure Socket Layers protection, used by most web sites that deal in financial transactions. It will usually appear as a small lock icon in the lower left corner of your browser window.
