Was ist eigentlich Phishing?

Phishing refers to the sending of an email that falsely claims to be from a well-known, legitimate company, with the aim of tricking the recipient into divulging personal information that can be used for identity theft. The customer is redirected to a website where they are asked to update personal details such as passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, and bank account details. By copying the HTML code or framing parts of the pages, it is quite easy to make a website appear genuine.

Many people fall victim to email scams designed to steal login details for accounts like PayPal, eBay, online banking, and others. The scammers send emails to any address they can get their hands on, so you might receive one even if you don't have an account with the targeted business, website, or company.

The appearance of scam emails is improving. You may receive an email from eBay that looks as if it came from them. The email contains all the necessary logos and is consistently designed. The links in the email even appear to lead to genuine eBay pages. Emails pretending to be from eBay might say, for example, that the user's account will be suspended soon if they do not click on the provided link and update their credit card details.

Other scams related to PayPal often involve a notification about unauthorised access attempts. The sender informs you that someone has tried to access your account. As a consequence, you risk your account being „frozen“. However, by opening the link in the email (as instructed), you can enter your password and supposedly prevent your account from being lost. In doing so, you are handing over your details to strangers.

Remember that this is not just about PayPal. Similar emails are also sent to Storm Pay, e-gold, eBay and other users. Be careful with such scams that try to trick you into providing information (like passwords) which allow the sender to gain access to your account.

If you receive a suspicious message, open a new browser and type in the URL for your account. Never click on a link in an email that claims to take you to your PayPal account. Your account information (and your finances!) will be safer if you make this a habit.

If you feel that you have transmitted sensitive financial data about yourself or about accounts as a result of a phishing scam, you should take the following steps:

Contact your bank or account institution immediately.
Apply for a fraud alert on your credit report by contacting the major credit bureaus.
Submit a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
If you believe you have been a victim of a phishing scam, you can also report it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center.

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