What is Phishing

How to Keep Safe

Assume It's Fake: The best way to keep yourself safe from these types of attacks is to consider any type of email that you receive asking for information to be fake.

Don't Click The Link If you think the request may actually be legitimate (which is probably unlikely) then open up your web browser and type the web address in manually. So if you get a PayPal request for something then open up Internet Explorer and type in http://www.paypal.com

Don't Trust The Link If the link says http://www.eBay.com/accountUpdate try to find out where it will actually go when you click on it. If you place your mouse over the link, in most email programs it will tell where the link is actually pointing to. The same goes for any web based email such as hotmail or gmail. Look at the bottom of your browser to tell you where the link is actually pointing to. If the actual link doesn't match what the email says then be very very suspicious.

With any luck, if you're smart about what you click on and what you don't you'll probably do just fine. Remember, most institutions will not send emails to you asking to update your information and many have policies outlining when they will contact you. If you want to be sure every time then visit the site directly.