For anyone who is familiar with information theft, the title of this post doesn't seem odd. But for those who are not, they might assume that I either do not know how to correctly spell the word "fishing," or am just trying too hard to be fancy.
Phishing is, according to our textbook, "a scam in which a perpetrator sends an official looking e-mail message that attempts to obtain your personal and financial information."
The word "phishing" actually does relate to the sport "fishing" in simplistic terms. According to www.webopedia.com, "phishing, also referred to as brand spoofing or carding, is a variation on "fishing," the big idea being that bait is thrown out with the hopes that while most will ignore the bait, some will be tempted into biting."
Let's pretend that your bank of choice is Wachovia, and you are a fan of online banking. You've provided Wachovia with your personal account numbers, passwords, as well as other confidential information. Through online banking, you check/monitor your balances and transfer money from one account to another quite often.
You feel pretty safe with Wachovia and believe that your private information is secure. Then one day, you receive an email from a source that you believe to be Wachovia. You open the e-mail and it appears as though Wachovia is requesting you to verify your account numbers, pin numbers, and online passwords. The email looks credible, and you don't question it because you have been banking with Wachovia for some time now...so why wouldn't you provide them with the information that they need?
You click on the link provided/send the information requested. And little do you know, you are sending it to someone who is going to now perform those online banking functions that you do, but...for themselves. It's information theft that acts as a legitimate source/organization/company...but really has nothing to do with it.
Here is a "Phishing Scam" video that I found on YouTube after I wrote this blog! It complements my example of phishing and relates it to banks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqRZGhiHGxg&feature=fvw
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