Phishing is a way of stealing an individual’s personal information and use that information to steal money from their account. Nowadays, there is an alarming rise in the number of fraudulent activities. Though many activities are carried out against it but phishing still remains a major fraudulent activity as the criminals are also becoming equally clever. Though there are many       anti–phishing groups, laws and many technological developments which tell us about the different phishing techniques, there is a need to create widespread awareness about the phishing techniques and how to prevent it.

In this age of completely networked environment where individuals and corporates wholly depend on their computer system, internet security and data privacy has become a major issue. One of the significant threats is the phishing syndrome which has affected millions of individuals and corporates around the world. It is a program created by hackers for seeking financial and personal information from the users. This is usually done by sending spam messages and pop ups within browsers.

Phishing is a form of trick or treachery used by the hackers to derive personal and financial information from the users over the internet or telephone. This information could be used for robbing the users of their property or money by unauthorized and illegal transactions in the users’ name. The phishing sites generally send spasm and pop ups and fake original websites to lure the customers of such original sites to enter such information.

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Wells Fargo Online

Dear Valued Customer,

Due to the high number of fraud attempts and phishing scams, it has been decided to implement EV
SSL Certification on this Internet Banking website.

The use of EV SSL certification works with high security Web browsers to clearly identify whether
the site belongs to the company or is another site imitating that company’s site.

What is Phishing?
As the technology advances it takes criminal technology too along with it. In the modern days of computers people try to find out an easy solution to all the problems they have using computers and so they have passwords, user names etc. The simplest definition of phishing could be that any activity which is done to steal these personal and confidential details is called Phishing.

Beware of this Wachovia Phishing Email.

from Wells Fargo Online <secure-mail@wellsfargo.com> reply-to no-reply@wellsfargo.com to noreply@secure.wellsfargo.com date Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 6:47 PM subject Wells Fargo Service Center : Important Message Alert

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Warning: This message may not be from whom it claims to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender with any personal information.  Learn more

Dear Valued Customer,

Due to the high number of fraud attempts and phishing scams, it has been decided to implement EV
SSL Certification on this Internet Banking website.

Talking of Internet, which everybody is using these days to do a lot of financial transactions, in our daily life as it’s the easiest way to get things done over the net, at the comfort of our homes and without having to stand in long queues and spending our time. But did you ever take out a minute to think how safe it is? Or, is it correct to put the details of your credit card, your SSN or your bank details in there?