Phishing attacks change constantly and consumers, and their financial institutions, need to remain vigilant, according to the Identity Theft Assistance Center.
E-mails, phone calls and text messages are all used to try to capture account numbers, PINs and other identifying information, and, as part of Protect Your Identity Week, which concludes tomorrow, ITAC has issued a series of reminders.
They include to be suspicious of any unsolicited e-mail or text message seeking personal information; avoid filling out forms in e-mail messages that ask for personal information; always compare the link in the e-mail to the link that you are actually directed to; log on to the company's official website instead of clicking on a link in an e-mail; and contact the business that sent the e-mail to verify it.
ITAC also recommends reporting phishing e-mails to the Anti-Phishing Working group at reportphishing@antiphishing.org, the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov and a special FBI unit at www.ic3.gov.
