What is phishing?
Phishing is a particularly popular scam in which a party creates an official-looking web page that asks you to provide your username and password, or other personal information such as your Social Security number, bank account number, PIN number, credit card number, or mother’s maiden name or birthday.
In many cases, you’ll receive a link to this phishing page via an email which claims to come from an official-looking (but probably forged) address. You can also end up at these pages by following links that you find on the web.
What does phishing look like in action?
Here’s an example of a FAKE Metairie Bank website. There are a few odd things about this site that should tip off a visitor that it’s a scam, starting with the most important part, the URL (or website address).
- There is a typo in the URL. The website address has the letter S after “metairie”.
- There is no Favicon image in the tab. Metairie Bank’s real site has a logo there.
- The online banking login button is different. On the real website, it just says “LOGIN” and drops down for you to enter your info.
- The Main Slider Image is broken and doesn’t change.
- Also, none of the drop-down menus worked on this website.
