porting to be from credit card companies, PayPal, eBay, or banks. Each message warns the recipient of questionable activity on his or her account, as asks that the recipient click on a link to v“Dear Bank of the West customer”, the message begins. I’ve just received an e-mail message, purportedly from the security department at the Bank of the West. The message explains that certain features of my account have been suspended due to “suspicious activity” on my account. The message then provides a link that I can follow in order to fill out an online form confirming my identity. It’s certainly nice that Bank of the West is worried about the status of my account. There’s just one problem – I don’t have an account at Bank of the West. In fact, I’ve never even heard of Bank of the West.

This message is an example of “phishing”, a relatively new problem found on the Internet. Unscrupulous individuals are sending spam e-mail messages by the millions, purporting to be from credit card companies, PayPal, eBay, or banks. Each message warns the recipient of questionable activity on his or her account, as asks that the recipient click on a link to v

eatures of my account have been suspended due to “suspicious activity” on my account. The message then provides a link that I can follow in order to fill out an online form confirming my identity. It’s certainly nice that Bank of the West is worried about the status of my account. There’s just one problem – I don’t have an account at Bank of the West. In fact, I’ve never even heard of Bank of the West.

This message is an example of “phishing”, a relatively new problem found on the Internet. Unscrupulous individuals are sending spam e-mail messages by the millions, purporting to be from credit card companies, PayPal, eBay, or banks. Each message warns the recipient of questionable activity on his or her account, as asks that the recipient click on a link to v

y. It’s certainly nice that Bank of the West is worried about the status of my account. There’s just one problem – I don’t have an account at Bank of the West. In fact, I’ve never even heard of Bank of the West.

This message is an example of “phishing”, a relatively new problem found on the Internet. Unscrupulous individuals are sending spam e-mail messages by the millions, purporting to be from credit card companies, PayPal, eBay, or banks. Each message warns the recipient of questionable activity on his or her account, as asks that the recipient click on a link to v

f Bank of the West.

This message is an example of “phishing”, a relatively new problem found on the Internet. Unscrupulous individuals are sending spam e-mail messages by the millions, purporting to be from credit card companies, PayPal, eBay, or banks. Each message warns the recipient of questionable activity on his or her account, as asks that the recipient click on a link to v

porting to be from credit card companies, PayPal, eBay, or banks. Each message warns the recipient of questionable activity on his or her account, as asks that the recipient click on a link to verify personal information. The requested information is usually a username or password. Sometimes it’s a credit card number and expiration date. These messages are almost always fraudulent, and consumers are falling for them by the thousands. The messages certainly look legitimate, and often mimic the style of the legitimate company’s messages exactly. How can you tell the difference between a real message from your bank and a fake one designed to steal your identity?

There are several tips to help identify phishing expeditions. The first is the greeting. “Dear valued customer” is an odd greeting from a company that has a database that contains your name, address, Social Security number and credit card. Any company with whom you do business that legitimat