NDTV.com: You could be phished online

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You could be phished online

Nilesh Thakkar, Garima Dutt

Thursday, October 25, 2007, (Baroda)

Providing login details to an unknown mail from yahoo cost Dr Sunil Kothari's friend Rs 6 lakhs.

He is another victim of cyber crime and now high profile victims show that the predators phishing for unsuspecting net savvy people are getting smarter.

Dr Kothari Padmashri dance historian never realised of something fishy while giving out his details.

Dr Kothari said, "I put in my details on the mail that came to me after which my account was hacked. Then mails were sent to my friends asking them to send me money in Nigeria."

If one received an email asking for personal information then chances are that he is a target of 'Phishing'.

Phishing is a type of Internet fraud where cyber criminals hack into the database of banks and send emails to their clients asking for personal information and also to draw money from people's bank accounts.

Such mails look genuine as they often include look alike of official logos lifted from actual websites.

Dr Kothari said, "My friend tells me of a mail like that he received and many of them even sent in money that has been pocketed by the fraudster. I don't know how much has he got by now."

Columnist Praful Biwai is another high profile victim of phishing, again from a yahoo account.

Praful Bidwai said, "I could not log on to my account and then I realised its been hacked and I fortunately mailed my friends just in time so that they don't send me any money."

Cracking the phishing net

How does one know if an e-mail is fake?

Such mails ask you for your passwords, login names and other personal information.

They sound urgent requesting for a quick response.

Phishing e-mails are usually sent out in bulk and so will not have your name.

These mails have a link that looks like it will lead you to your bank's website, but it actually takes you to a phony website where you are asked to fill out your details.

S D Mishra ACP of Economic Offenses Wing, Crime Branch, New Delhi said, "Safety measures are of two kinds. One involving the banks and other customers. Banks should keep checking with their customers through phones and tell them about their transactions through sms'. Customers should install a good anti-virus and spam guard and should not respond to any email that asks them to reveal their personal information."

Little precautions on the individual front can save a person and his associates from this menace phishing.

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User Comments [ +Comment on the story ]

Posted By Nikhil-Thursday, October 25, 2007

People are getting smarter day by day. They are even sending out such emails now with the persons name in the email. Though they might not know ur name but the "To:" field of email has your and only urs email id. there are bulk email senders available(at free cost) for this purpose.