Spotting Phishing Has Become Harder Over Time As Phishers Become More Subversive

Over time, phishing scams have evolved. From relying solely upon victims' innocence to lead them into disclosing detailed personal information, it has evolved into a more highly sophisticated crime which only requires that victims use the Internet to pay bills or make purchases online.

In the early days, phishers masqueraded as representatives of legitimate companies to lure their victims. They usually initiated contact through instant messages or e-mails, asking victims to visit a fake website they created to increase their appearance of legitimacy.

At the website, victims were asked to enter personal information such as their social security number, bank account number or account balances thinking they were verifying their account information at the request of the company. Once the personal information was entered, the victim's identity was placed at risk and their accounts were vulnerable to being sabotaged by fraudulent activity.

As consumers caught on to the phishing scams and phishing filters became more widely used, unscrupulous criminals had to resort to more subversive methods to commit their crimes.

Through the use of Trojans and spyware and key loggers, phishers can plant "bugs" into the hard drives of computers which do their dirty work for them. Phishers still depend on phony e-mails and Web sites to trap victims, but they no longer have to rely on victims making the mistake of entering their personal information.

Today phishing scams only require that people click on an e-mail link to a bogus website. Once there, the victim's machine becomes infected with what seems like a benign bug. It will lie dormant on the computer until the next time that the victim visits their banking Web site. At that time, the spyware or Trojan stores only the personal information the criminal wants and transmits it back to them at a later time.

As phishing scams become more sophisticated, it becomes more important than ever for Internet users to be cautious in their online transactions. It is especially hazardous to click on unsolicited e-mail links which relate to your online accounts.

Want to know more about phishing scams? Check out antiphishingscams.com to learn what is phishing and how to increase your chances of not being a phishing victim.