What is Phishing

Phishing is the act of someone contacting you and posing as a legitimate entity/authority to gather information which they will use for unlawful purpopses.

Some good examples are the e-mails you receive which may claim to have come from places like your ISP, Bank, PayPal, Ebay but are in fact fraudulent.

The best way to protect yourself is to not reply to them or click any links which the messages contain. If you suspect a message to be fraudulent, first Report it to Us, then contact the target of the message (for example your bank) by phone or by opening a web browser and manually typing their address.

You may also visit our main Fraud/Scam section to find out if there are already examples of the suspected fraudulent message or site.

Statistically 5% of people who get a phishing e-mail believe it, provide information and have their finances and identity stolen. Sadly these same people are often so embarrassed by it, they don't report it.

You can think of Phishing as the Internet version of the con man on the street who sells you a pitch and if successful takes your money and gives you nothing, only this version is much more damaging to you.