GHS Law Partners
Phishing Related Fraud
Phishers prey upon our fears, altruism or greed, to illegally obtain personal information,
such as credit card numbers or passwords, by posing as a legitimate, trustworthy source.
The concept is not new. In the past, the scammers used phones calls or knocked on
doors. Today’s’ increasingly connected world has changed the method, not the goal. One
individual can send out thousands of emails in the time it takes to make one phone call. It
is estimated that as many as 20% of recipients will respond to these emails.
Typical emails appear to come from businesses, ISP’s or government agencies, using
familiar logos and color schemes. Well crafted emails look much like the real thing, and
contain links to very convincing counterfeit websites. In the past, these emails were often
easy to spot, as the spelling and language errors were obvious, but today’s phishers have
become more sophisticated and the average victim is not even aware he has been
scammed, resulting in identity theft and often financial loss.
Ideally, prevention of identity theft by phishing begins with education. There are steps
that individuals can take to safeguard their personal information. The FTC’s issued a
Consumer Alert, How Not to Get Hooked by a ‘Phishing’ Scam. The recommendations
in the report include common sense items, such as “Don’t email personal of financial
information” as well as technical suggestions like “Use anti-virus software and a firewall,
and keep them up to date.” There is also information about what to do if you have
become a victim. Follow the motto is “Deter, Detect, Defend:
Deter identity thieves by safeguarding your information
Detect suspicious activity by routinely monitoring your financial accounts and billing
statements
Defend against ID theft as soon as you suspect a problem.”
The growing problem of phishing related fraud is a concern to the legitimate businesses
and organizations they impersonate, as it erodes customer confidence. The US
government, recognizing the seriousness of this problem, is working on the problem on
several fronts: the FTC operates several useful websites for consumers, Congress passed
the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act in 1998, which made identity theft a
federal crime subject to as many as 15 years in prison, and on May 10, 2006, by
Executive Order, the President created the Identity Theft Task Force.