This type of "fishing" is the act of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as passwords and credit card details (and sometimes money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
It’s an automated way which is used by Internet criminals to extract sensitive information from both individuals and businesses, often through the method of impersonating legitimate websites.
The potential for high rewards (such as gaining access to bank accounts and credit card numbers), the ease of sending forged email messages impersonating legitimate authorities, and the difficulty law enforcement has in pursuing the criminals has resulted in a surge of phishing attacks. It has affected a lot of people and resulted in the loss of a colossal sum of money.
Most of the time phishing attacks occur through e-mails. These e-mails are designed to resemble as though they came from legitimate businesses such as financial institutions (which is the most common one) and many others. This phishing emails contains a link, and upon clicking that link, the recipient is taken to a website that looks exactly like the real and legitimate website.
How do you prevent phishing?
1. Protect yourself against spam
2. Communicate personal information through the phone or secure websites
3. Do not click on anything from unknown sources
4. Beware of links in emails that ask for your personal information
5. Beware of pop-ups!
These 5 tips should be helpful enough in preventing you from giving out any sort of personal information. Always stay vigilant about such things because people like you spend so much time on the internet and on their devices.
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