You can very much consider the Internet as a short cut for “international networking.” By just logging on, you can also connect to people located all over the world. There could be some people that you might personally know or some people that you might just know through the internet. Whatever the case is, there will always be somebody you can find at the other end of your Internet connection.

As easily accessible and easy daily life is now thanks to the Internet, there are also many disadvantages that can come from this initial advantage. The first one is the criminal activities, such as obtaining sexual activities on the web are an instance of online problems that society has to attempt handling.

Another very well known online criminal activity is phishing. Phishing is known as obtaining personal information such as passwords and credit card details by pretending to be a representative from a company. Phishing can be carried out through email or instant messaging.

It is referred to as ‘phishing’ due to the fact that it is quite similar to the recreational activity of fishing. It ‘fishes’ for users’ personal information with elements such as passwords and financial data.

Phishers then create accounts on AOL through the use of false algorithmically generated credit card numbers. These accounts are then maintained for a given number of months. Due to the reports of phishing incidences, AOL has established some extreme measures that will assist people in preventing this from ever occuring by securing their user’s data and confirming the information of those who sign up for AOL accounts.

On AOL, a phisher will pretend to be an AOL employee and will send out some instant messages to a random customer that will ask for the passwords of their account. Luring the victim further towards their aim, the phisher will then include in the message “verify your account” or “confirm billing information.”

Consequently, a large number of clients will get lured in and might give off their password. Once the phisher gains access to this sensitive kind of information, it will be possible for him to use the victim’s account for the purposes of spamming. You should therefore attempt to verify your inbox and take a good look at the spam messages that you might have received. Obviously, those will be real names of people. These people’s accounts have been hacked into and are now being used for transmitting spam messages.

Due to this, AOL promises their clients that no one from the staff of AOL will ever ask them for their personal or billing information. Further to that, AOL has conceived a system that will tend to deactivate accounts as soon as any signs of illegal activity such as phishing are put forward.

Other more recent phishing incidences tend to involve those of the Internal Revenue Service. There is a method for phishers to get to know the bank of their potential victims. They then try to show themselves as employees of that bank and will send an email to one of their victims.

Additionally, certain sites for social networking can be employed as a home base for phishers due to the fact that personal details which have been printed online might be used for the purposes of identity theft. Statistics tend to demonstrate that over 70% phishing attempts are carried out in social networks.

Interested? find out more on how to keep your home computer safe:
What Should Be Known About Phishing - 2