What Is Phishing and Why Does It Target Online Bank Account Holders

Phishing is scamming method used by internet intruders to steal personal information from you mainly through emails. Whereas some of the emails intended to steal information from you may be easily detected as spam, nowadays, these hackers have become smart and you cannot easily detect some of the emails they send. The reason why online bank account holders or credit card holders are targeted is because once your personal information is stolen, the scammers can use it to log into your online bank account and steal money from it.
 

One thing that banks will not do is to tell you to activate your account through emails. In addition, banks don’t request for personal information through emails. If you already have a bank account and an online banking access, then you are always advised to log into the secure website of the online account and log in from there. You should never click on email links that are mainly provided by these scammers.

What these scammers do is that they send you information purporting to originate from a bank or credit card issuer where you have an account and then ask you to activate or provide your details. They may claim that your account has been suspended and you need to log in and confirm your personal details in order to uplift the suspension. NEVER click on any links you suspect that they are from hackers.

One thing that makes the email phishing difficult to detect is that it may bear the logo and address of the bank or credit card issuer. In addition, the emails may resemble other genuine emails you have received from your bank. The best way you can protect yourself from these intruders is to learn how to identify phishing emails.

You need to check where the email was sent from or the e-mailer. You need to check the section “mailed by”. The email may be from the bank or credit card web email address but not sent by the bank or credit card company. If the message is not mailed by the bank or card issuer, and it appears to have originated from another address, then you should ignore it and delete it immediately.

Another way you may detect a phishing attempt from an email is to check on forged links. The scammers will try to use a link that is very similar to that of the bank account or credit card issuer. You need to roll over your mouse on the link and see if it identical to the one on the email without clicking on it. In most cases, if the link does not begin with “https” it means that it is not secure. If when you roll the mouse over the link and you cannot get the address, you may “copy link location” and paste it on the web search tab. This way, you will determine whether it is genuine link or not. NEVER click on the link. Almost all bank websites will begin with “https”.

Moreover, if you get an email that requires you to provide your personal information, you should ignore. Once you have provided your personal information during your account registration, your bank will never ask you to provide the same again through an email. This is because that information can be intercepted online and stolen.

In addition, when you see that you are required to follow a link and log in to provide your details, then it means that the “phishers” want to steal your log in details. Even when you click on the link, you may be directed to a page that looks the same as the bank account log in website page. Another way you may detect a phishing email is the urgency of the message.  The email may be sent twice or thrice meaning that there is a pressing request to provide your information. You need to ignore that email and filter it from your address.