How to Avoid Phishing Scams–An Easy, One-Step Solution

What is Phishing?

Phishing scams are those emails that claim to be from eBay, PayPal or your bank. They usually say something along the lines of “Click on this link and log into your account, there’s been a security breach and you must update your information or your account will be closed.”

When you click on a link in the email, it takes you to a site that looks like eBay, PayPal or your bank’s web site. But it’s not… It’s a site run by crooks and their goal is to get your log in information and use it to drain your account or buy things and charge them to you!

Stop Phishing Dead In Its Tracks!

There’s an easy, one-step solution to phishing scams–don’t click on links in email to sign in to any web site. If you get an email purporting to be from PayPal with an “important announcement,” open your browser and type in paypal.com and log in that way. If there’s really an announcement, you’ll see it there. These scams depend on you going to the fake web site and if you go directly to the real site, the scams won’t work.

It’s simple. Whenever you need to log into a site that might have sensitive financial information, go to that site directly–not through a link in an email.