Phishing

Phishing

Internet fraudsters often impersonate a bank, a website or a business to trick you into giving out personal information. When they do this it is called phishing. First of all: do not reply, click or provide any of this information – even if it seems to be from a trustworthy source. Most legitimate businesses don’t ask you to send sensitive information through insecure channels such as email or links to a website. please report any phishing attempts with CARICERT:

Report Phishing

If you suspect the email may be legit, then please visit the website directly (don’t click on any links in any messages you received but type the address you remember and have used before into your browser).

Dealing with Phishing

The messages may appear to be from organizations you do business with, a bank for example. They usually threaten to close your account or take other action if you don’t respond. Again: don’t reply and don’t click on links or call phone numbers provided in the message. In most cases these messages direct you to fake sites – sites that look real but whose purpose is to steal your information so a criminal is able to abuse your information or steal your money. Please be aware that telephone numbers can also be used to mislead you. Some scammers ask you to call a phone number to update your account or access a “refund.” In some cases they may even call you, asking for information or offering “technical support”. In todays environment, where phonecalls can be made over the internet phone numbers do not guarantee that the caller or phone number is indeed local, let alone trustworthy. In all of these cases: Don’t give personal information over the phone unless you trust the other party completely. If you are still concerned about your account or need to reach an organization you do business with, please call the number on your financial statements or the number on your bank card.

Report

If you want to help CARICERT deal with phishing, please go ahead and report the phishing messages or attempts that you have received. That way we are able to take out the infrastructure that is being abused. We will also try to warn other customers of the same bank or business. Although we prefer that you report phishing with CARICERT, most of the time it is ok to just ignore or delete the phishing message too.  
 
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