One good thing about writing articles for a living is that I get to learn about new things. Since I spend most of my time in front of a computer, it seems I don't get out much and unless it's on the nightly news, I don't usually hear about computer scams. That's how I found out about Phishing Scams. I had never heard of such a thing until I was asked to write an article about it, and I'm glad that I was asked. I now know what a Phishing scam is and I'm happy to share this information with you, in case your not very computer savvy either. Now most of us know enough not to openly give out personal information online to just anybody, and common sense tells us when something looks a little shaky when we see it. However, Phishing scams are hard to see because they are made to look like things we are used to. We do a lot of things online today, banking, paying bills, shopping, stock trading, etc. We usually don't give it a second thought to give our information in doing any of these activities. That's what these Phishing scams are hoping for, that you won't give a second thought to giving them your personal information.

Phishing scams usually come as emails or pop-up messages to lure your personal information from you. 'We suspect an unauthorized transaction has occurred in your account. To ensure that your account is not compromised, please click the link below and confirm your identity.' Have you received an e-mail that looks like that one? Or how about; 'During our regular verification of accounts, we could not verify your information. Please click here to update and verify your information.' Both of these scams are called phishing, and it involves Internet schemers who send email or pop-up messages that lure you into giving them your personal information. Credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security numbers, and passwords, any information or sensitive material you think is safe. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), phishers claim to be from a business or organization that you deal with, including Internet service providers, online payment services and even government agencies. The messages can ask you to update or confirm your account information, or threaten you if you don't respond immediately. The messages will then direct you to a website that looks just like the one you're used to dealing with, but it's not, it's a fake website and its only purpose is to trick you into giving out your personal information.

FTC recommends never give out personal information to email or pop ups that ask you for it. Legitimate companies never ask for this information via email. Don't cut and paste a link from the message into your Internet browser. Don't 'click' on a button or web address given to you via email unless you're absolutely sure of were its going. For more information, look for websites pertaining to phishing scam information.