How do you avoid becoming a victim of pharming, phishing, and spoofing?
Here are some tips to put into practice that can reduce your risk of becoming a victim: • Don’t click on links within emails; use the company’s published web address and type it into the address bar on your own. • Once on the website, look at the address bar to verify you’re on the correct site. • Verify the security certificate. Double click the small gold lock in the lower right corner of a secure web page to open the certificate. Verify that the certificate was ‘Issued By’ a known and trusted company. Also verify the certificate was ‘Issued To’ the company with which you do business. The certificate name should match the site name. If it doesn’t match, notify the company. Bogus or cloned websites won’t have a certificate. • Complete only the online forms that are secure. Get into the habit of checking for the key or lock symbol on your browser status bar. If you don’t see the key or lock, the form isn’t secure. • If you are prompted to call your bank, be sure to use a number you rec
