TUCSON (Tucson News Now) – They’re not using a new scheme, but rip off artists are making a new effort to target local college students.
The University of Arizona PoliceDepartment says it’s gotten word of email phishing activity — where thieves send emails asking for personal financial information, including credit card numbers or bank accounts. Many of these fake emails use real company names and logos to make them look legitimate. If you reply with the account information, the scam artists have enough to commit identity theft, steal money from your accounts, or commit credit card fraud.
UAPD gives this advice to prevent phishing theft:
– Logon directly to the official website you conduct business with, instead of a link from an unsolicited e-mail. This includes forwarded messages from someone on your contact list.
– If the e-mail appears to be from your bank, credit card issuer, or other company you deal with frequently, your statements or official correspondence from the business will provide the proper contact information.
– Do not open attachments. Attachments may contain malicious code that will infect your computer.
– Do not give out personal information over the phone or email without properly verifying the other party’s identity. Ask for a name and call back number.
– Use anti-virus and anti-spy ware software and keep up with the security updates to prevent viruses and malicious programs from infecting your computer.
– If you suspect your computer has a virus, have it serviced immediately from at rusted source.
– For more information or to report an incident, go to the UA Information Securitywebpage at: http://security.arizona.edu/
The term “phishing” is adapted from the term “phreaking,” which referred to telephone hackers in the 1970s and 80s.
Copyright 2013 Tucson News Now. All rights reserved.