Have You Received a Phishing Email - How, Where and to Whom to Report Phishing Emails

If you use email at all you no doubt have received a phishing email or two or more. Most times you will receive more. I know I receive several every week even with filters on my email accounts. So what do you do with them?

If you've received a phishing email, also called a spoofing email, by someone attempting to obtain your personal information illegally, follow these steps for how to report the phishing email:

1. Do not respond to the e-mail. Instead, forward it to the company involved. For example, if you get a phishing e-mail from someone claiming to be from eBay, you should forward the e-mail to eBay's security department. Check out the eBay site information about emails from eBay.

2. Do not click on any links in the e-mail. If you want to visit the site where the e-mail supposedly originated, type that site's address directly into your browser. If you have a relationship with them and they do need some information from you, a request for that information should be accessible in your account.

3. Do not call any phone numbers listed in the email. These may be just another attempt to obtain your personal information. Look up the appropriate phone numbers on the company's website.

4. If at any time while you're viewing the e-mail, a pop-up box appears asking you to enter personal information, ignore it.

5. Forward the phishing email to the Anti-Phishing Working Group. Follow the instructions here: antiphishing.org/report_phishing.html.

6. Before entering personal information on any Web site, verify that it has a security certificate. Look for a closed lock icon on your Web browser. This means any information you enter will be encrypted before being sent.

In fact I have failed to make purchases I wanted on sites which do not have this security on their ordering pages. It is definitely something you should look for and can also be identified by the addition of an 's' to http at the beginning of the URL.

7. Install phishing filters onto your computer and keep them updated regularly. The filters will protect you from entering personal information if you visit a website known for phishing and will warn you when you visit sites which look suspicious.

If you're already the victim of identity theft, the first thing you should do is to change all of your online passwords and check the history of all your online accounts to see if there has been any fraudulent activity. After securing your passwords, you should contact the companies and, if necessary, arrange for new accounts and credit cards.

Additionally you should file an identity theft complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at their FTC Complaint Assistant site. However, be aware that the "FTC does not resolve individual consumer complaints" but your complaint may lead to prosecution of the individuals who sent out that phishing email.

Learn more about reporting a phishing email and phishing scams including actual web and email addresses and what you can do to combat this menace that may lead to identity theft at http://www.antiphishingscams.com.