Protect Yourself Against Leaked Passwords - How to Spot Phishers
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The first great way to start protecting your personal information is by learning how to spot phishers and phishing scams. Don’t wait until you see an e-mail that gives you a “funny feeling” before you put up your defenses. Always be on the lookout for certain warning signs, and learn how to distinguish the fact from the fiction.
Your password is requested. If you get a mail that asks you to provide your username and password for any reason. Do not comply! No online mail service -- from AIM to Yahoo -- will ever, ever ask you for your password. Ever! It doesn’t matter if everything crashes, if there’s a huge meltdown, if the problems are too big even to name -- this question won’t ever be asked by a reputable company that means you no harm. Don’t ever tell anyone your password, no matter how dire the e-mail.
An unknown link asks you to follow it. Got an e-mail from “PayPal” saying that some stuff needs to be straightened out? Some phishers have come up with an incredibly clever scam to get you to leak your precious passwords. The mail arrives, saying that there’s a problem with your account. You need to follow a link and enter your account information to start straightening it all out.
Just stop right there! Why should PayPal, or any other Web site for that matter, send you an unfamiliar link? You can log into PayPal by simply going straight to the home page: https://www.paypal.com/. Don’t follow links you don’t recognize, and under no circumstances start giving out information if you do follow one.
A download is attached. Why in the world would you need to download something in order to deal with an account problem? It’s likely this is actually malware, a program designed to obtain your personal information so it can infiltrate your accounts. Always make sure you’ve got good virus protection software in place, and if you’ve just got to download random attachments, then scan them thoroughly first.
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