| Gone phishing: A bit of prevention, a byte of cure Imagine you have served more than 20 years in the military, received numerous commendations, and have built up a level of trust with your peers. You have become everything you want to be—perhaps even a bit more—and met every challenge head on and with success. Then, someone steals your identity. They use it for profit while leaving devastation in their wake. And they’re doing it under your name. It’s called “identity theft,” and it happens every day to individuals throughout the military and civilian communities. For companies, “phishing” is similar to identity theft. The difference is that a phishing scam doesn’t seek to rip off a company, but instead uses the good reputation and name of a company to rip off consumers. These scams are dangerous, not always easy to identify, and even the most intelligent and cautious consumers can fall victim. The way it works Phishing is a way to get people to share vital information, usually financial in nature, and usually via e-mail. The trick is that the phisher uses a real logo, and the e-mail address appears as if it’s from a legitimate and well-known company. E-bay, PayPal, Amazon … all have had, and continue to have, their name used by phishers. Even the Better Business Bureau has had its brand stolen and used in phishing scams. Why companies care A company’s “brand” is more than just its logo. It includes position in the market (McDonalds or Wal-Mart), reputation (Rolex or Ferrari), or how a name became the standard for everything else (Kleenex or Post-It Note). Many companies spend a great deal of time building their brands, and some brands are, in and of themselves, valued in the billions of dollars. When someone takes that brand and uses it illegally, it tarnishes the brand’s image and can decrease its value. It can also lead to higher prices for consumers due to legal action, tighter security for Web sites, or legitimate communications with customers to inform them of an ongoing scam. Basically, phishing scams cost everyone money, not just their victims. Protect yourself The following are a few ways to protect yourself from phishing scams based upon recommendations from The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), a group of individuals and companies that fight against online fraud.
You can find more information on this issue at www.antiphishing.org. And, one last piece of advice:
Your help is needed The easy thing to do is just delete any phishing e-mail you receive. Doing so, however, won’t make the problem go away, since no one else will know what you received, where it actually came from, and who is responsible. For this reason, it’s absolutely imperative that consumers report the phishing e-mails they receive, and it’s quite easy to do:
By reporting these messages, you help build up a database of offenders, provide valuable information that can stop new types of attacks, and save companies and consumers millions of dollars. Remember, phishing scams affect everyone—military and civilian, rich and poor, young and old, company and customer. But by taking a few steps to protect yourself and reporting the messages you receive, you can make a difference and help put phishers out of business. —————— MilitaryConnection.com thanks you for your patronage. This web site is a portal of all things military, and we are quickly becoming the “go to” web site for all things military. We are constantly adding resources, content and features to benefit our audience. Our web site and all of the resources are free to users, and there is something for everyone. Additionally, we feature finance articles like this to keep you informed. If you belong to a group or organization, we will post your press releases, special events, newsletters, professional conferences and seminars, reunions, job fairs, and videos to help spread the word. One of the areas of our focus is connecting candidates from the military community with outstanding government and civilian employers. We know that candidates from the military community across the board have a work ethic second to none. They make highly valued employees. MilitaryConnection.com has a multitude of employment resources including a Directory of over 30,000 employers, Job Tips, Columns, our new and improved Job Board, Virtual Job Fair and much more. We understand the importance of education. Please check out our new Education section, featuring the most up to date information on the new GI Bill, Education Articles, Education Benefits, and the Scholarship Directory featuring thousands of scholarships. When the next tour is back home, it’s on MilitaryConnection.com. |