A relatively new means that criminals use to try and steal your identity, or personal information, is known as Phishing. This technique uses a technique quite similar to actual fishing - send out a bunch of emails (fishing lines) and hope to catch a victim (fish).

With the phishing technique, criminals create emails that are modeled after emails sent out by companies you might do business with. Through these impostor emails, you are directed to click on links that take you to a bogus website, again modeled after the real company website. You are tricked into giving out your personal information for the thief to use.

Phishing scams have been getting increasingly large amounts of media coverage because the scams are growing in number and sophistication. Where is used to be really obvious that you where being phished, now days the emails and websites that are used look so similar to the real thing that it is next to impossible to tell the difference.

This method of attempting to get your personal information can be thought of as spam on steroids. Where typical spam wants you to click through to a site to make a purchase, phishing wants you to click through to a site and unknowingly give away your personal information.

Of course, once you have given out your personal information, the thief then has free reign to do what they wish with it. For example, if you were to give out your user name and password to your online banking, the criminal could log into your account and transfer all of your money to their bank account. The possibilities are limitless.

Attempting to notify the appropriate authorities about a phishing scheme really does little good. Most phishing sites are live for a very short time, just time enough to dupe a few unsuspecting victims into giving up valuable information. Then the sites are shut down and the thieves move on.

And because most of the large phishing schemes are run by overseas criminals, even if the authorities could track them down, there is little that they can do. Your best defense to a phishing attack is to not click on any email links and to protect your identity with some sort of identity protection service.

Phishing is just one more way criminals are using sophisticated methods to steal your personal information so that they can use it for evil means. Be wary of any email from a financial institution or other company you might do business with. And to be safe, never click on a link in an email so that you never have to worry about being phished.

Tags: Identity Theft