Phishing
Phishing involves using a form of spam to fraudulently gain access to people's internet banking details. The term 'phishing' refers to the use of spam e-mails purporting to be from a bank, in this way criminals 'fish' for legitimate bank customer's logon information.Criminals send out millions of these fraudulent e-mails to random e-mail addresses in the hope of luring unsuspecting innocent persons into providing their personal banking details.
Typically, a phishing email will ask an internet banking customer to follow a link to a fake banking website and enter his or her personal banking details.
If the link is followed, the victim often also downloads a malicious program which captures his/her keyboard strokes including any typed information such as banking login details and sends them to a third party.As well as targeting internet banking customers, phishing emails may target online auction sites or other online payment facilities.
Legitimate banks do NOT send such emails to their customers.
The AFP works with the financial sector, internet security industries and relevant organisations to investigate crimes associated with phishing emails.
What you can do
It is important to also make others aware about these emails and encourage them to never respond to requests for personal details. Some email frauds/scams can seem extremely convincing, hence their effectiveness for criminals.The AFP suggests that you treat phishing emails as spam delete them without opening. Spam emails are a proven method for distributing viruses and other unwanted programs.
It is not necessary to forward these emails to the AFP. Financial institutions and the AFP are made aware of current phishing emails as they happen via internal partnerships.
If you believe you are a victim and have lost money as a result of phishing activities, please contact your financial institution immediately.
