What is Phishing (Pronounced “Fishing”)? Phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT Administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. Phishing is typically carried out by email or Instant Messaging and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. A significant number of Phishing email messages are circulating at present and we should be on our guard to avoid giving up valuable personal information.
Charles Schwab account holders were recently targeted by Phishing thieves. As you can see from this example, Charles Schwab account holders received an email that had the look and feel of a legitimate email. The email attachment line read “Important Notice: Charles Schwab”. It read as follows:
Thank You for Your Attention!
Because Charles Schwab is maintaining physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal guidelines to guard your personal information against unauthorized access, we restricted some of our services for our clients, in order to be able to complete this process.
At this time we need you to renew your online profile and update our existing database, in order to be able to use all the Charles Schwab online services with no restriction. As soon as our database will be updated we will make a few anouncements to our customers regarding this notification, so please renew your online profile with no delay.
This process is compulsory for all our customers.
<LINK DELETED>
Charles Schwab is dedicated to providing you with exceptional service and to ensuring your trust. If you have any questions regarding our services, please call our customer service.
Warmly ,
The Charles Schwab Corporation Security Center
What should do you if you receive a phishing email? If you receive a phishing email, delete it, do not forward it to anyone and do not click on the link in the messages. If you are not sure whether the email is legit, log on to the provider’s actual web-site (not using a link in the email you received to get there!), and telephone the company for guidance.
