“We suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account. To ensure that your account is not compromised, please click the link below and confirm your identity.”

“During our regular verification of accounts, we couldn’t verify your information. Please click here to update and verify your information.”

Have you received email with a similar message? It’s a scam called “phishing” — and it involves Internet fraudsters who send spam or pop-up messages to lure personal information (credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information) from unsuspecting victims.

Phishing email messages, websites, and phone calls are designed to steal money. Cybercriminals can do this by installing malicious software on your computer or stealing personal information off of your computer. Cybercriminals also use social engineering to convince you to install malicious software or hand over your personal information under false pretenses. They might email you, call you on the phone, or convince you to download something off of a website.

The folks at OpenDNS have put together an excellent online quiz that will help you get better at spotting the subtle difference between legitimate e-mail and cleverly crafted phishing scams.

Do you think you know the difference between a fake and real website? Ever wonder how good you are at telling the difference between a legitimate website and one that’s a phishing attempt? Take this quiz to find out.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 at 10:08 by dsmith and is filed under Attack, Best Practices, Ripoff, Scam. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.