Phishing: Examples and its prevention methods

Phishing is a technique used by perpetrator to acquire sensitive personal data or private information by sending fraudulent e-mail which appears to be a mail from legitimate businesses with a justifiable request. These authentic-looking-messages are designed to fool recipients into revealing personal data and information such as account number, username, passwords, credit card numbers and so on. The user of Paypal, eBay, Lelong.com and online banking is the common target. Therefore, once the recipient clicks on the link provided in the fraudulent e-mail, it will directly take he/she to the fake website to let the recipient to enter their personal data.

Example of phishing:

1. This is a fraudulent email targeted on eBay users.


















2. Example of fraudulent e-mail from Maybank





















3. phishing example targeted on paypal user




















Preventive method:
There are some tips to avoid being the victim of phishing scams:

1. Before submitting personal information or financial information through a website, look for the "lock" icon on the browser's status bar. If there is a "lock" icon, it means the information is secured during transmission.
2. Be cautious of email asking for updating personal information. Never ever click on the link within the text of the e-mail which ask us to update our personal data unless recipient has confirm his/her billing information.
3. If the recipient is unsure whether the e-mail is true, he/she can directly contact the particular company to answer the doubts.
4. If the recipient has unknowingly disclose their personal or financial information, they should contact the particular company or bank immediately.
5. Lastly, any suspicious e-mail can be forwarded to uce@ftc.gov to complaint about the fraudulent e-mail at www.ftc.gov.