It wasn't long after the technology age began that we started having to deal with technological junk mail. Now instead of being exhorted to win a car in Canada by mail flyer, you are finding these messages in your email inbox. Most junk emails are harmless advertisements but some, such as viruses and phishing schemes, are not. Mac owners think they're ahead of the game because their computers are less likely to come down with viruses, but no one is immune to email phishing unless they've got the knowledge necessary to recognize it.

So what is email phishing, anyway? In email phishing, a criminal will set up an email address and alter the sender information so that when it arrives in your inbox it looks like it comes from an official organization, such as your bank or credit card company or even Collision Repair Vancouver. The email will invite you to click on a link and "log in" to your account to verify your personal information. Clicking on the link will take you to a fake website that looks like the real one. This site's sole purpose is to collect your name and credit care information.

It is not surprising, then, that people who respond to these emails are almost always the victim of identity theft. With this information, thieves can not only run up your credit card bill but also sign up for more credit cards in your name and run up those bills, ruining your credit rating and forcing you to spend long hours on the phone with credit card companies trying to convince them you didn't buy Andy Warhol paintings over the internet and have them sent to Nigeria.

The best course of action, then, is to never reply to a phishing email. There are several ways you can differentiate real emails from phishing ones. Firstly, you may receive emails from banks or stores that sell diapers where you do not have an account. Secondly, if they ask for your information or tell you your account has been frozen or hacked, it is always a phishing email. Real organizations never ask for your info in an email. If you must log in, always type the address into the browser bar instead of clicking on the link.

Phishing is highly illegal and damaging to businesses, even small ones like Craft Services Toronto. Therefore simply ignoring the email is not enough. Forward it to the company's fraud department for investigation and to the authorities as well. In many cases the crooks will be operating from outside the country, which means Interpol will have to get involved. You can often recognize these foreign emails because they are misspelled and contain poor grammar.