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‘PHISHING’ FOR TROUBLE
Like many things in the online world, it has a cute name: phishing.

However, this kind of phishing has less to do with summer days on the lake hooking trout and more to do with a growing form of electronic fraud spread by e-mail.

The Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, reported in July that customers of Internet service provider, or ISP, America Online and electronics merchandiser Best Buy had been targets of so-called phishing schemes to steal personal financial information. At the same time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and ISP EarthLink jointly warned of a surge in phishing schemes this year.

The basic phishing scam starts with an e-mail message that appears to come from a legitimate company with which you do business. The message indicates there is a problem with your billing information and directs you to follow a hyperlink to update this information or risk a loss of service.

The hyperlink points to a fraudulent Web site, designed to look as if it belongs to the targeted company, where you are asked to enter any of a variety of sensitive personal information: credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, billing addresses, bank account information, passwords and the like. The phisher then uses this information to establish credit accounts, buy merchandise and send more bogus e-mails.

Phishing is a two-time scam in that the targeted companies’ identities are hijacked first to steal the credit identities of those who bite the e-mail "hook."

Though several phishing cases made the news this year, your chances of running afoul of such a scheme probably are low, particularly if you’re careful about what kinds of information you send across the Internet. However, it’s worth noting that some research has shown a significant increase in identity theft crimes over the last year. Gartner Inc., a research group specializing in technology and the Internet, found a 79 percent increase in reported identity theft incidences in the past year, according to a recent survey.

If you’re concerned about falling victim to an identity theft scam, the FTC provides the following advice:

– Don’t respond to e-mails received with little notice threatening an interruption of service unless billing information is confirmed. Instead, contact the company from which the message appears to come through a Web address you know is legitimate or by telephone.

– Avoid sending personal and financial information by e-mail. As a matter of policy, most online businesses will not ask you to e-mail such information or request your username and password.

– When conducting financial transactions online, ensure you are using a secure connection, generally indicated by a "lock" icon in your Web browser’s status bar. It’s also a good idea to use a Web browser that supports 128-bit, or strong, encryption. Versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or newer and Netscape Navigator 4.73 or newer support strong encryption. Check the Microsoft and Netscape Web sites for more details.

– Report suspicious activity to the FTC. You can forward suspect messages directly to "uce{at}ftc.gov". If you believe you’ve been scammed, you can file a complaint online at "www.ftc.gov".

Reported by Joe Hoyle, electronic media editor, "hoylej{at}ada.org".

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