Laura Betterly on Google Phishing

A client of ours sent over an e-mail from Google, one that said one of their ads were disapproved and there was a link to login and fix the problem. The only thing was, the notice wasn't from Google, and it went to a phishing site, trying to get an individuals login for Google so they could steal advertising dollars from them.

So, I wanted to warn you about phishing scams, and give you some guidance in figuring out if a link you click on is legitimate or not. This has been going on for some time with banks and Paypal, but now ad Google to the list.

It works like this, the phisher sends an alarming e-mail telling you to login to your account and fix the problem. Some people will do this and the phisher now has their personal information, logins, sometimes even their social security number. This is a prime way identity theft takes place.

Know these facts:
1. A bank or group like Paypal will NEVER ask you for that type of information.
2. If you click on such a link, look at the url that you are taken to. It might say something like sponsorpro.com/google.login.html. Note that some other web site name will be in the URL along with something that might be legit. That is your biggest indicator that something is wrong even if the page looks exactly like the real one.
3. Any website that takes personal information or has you login will have a secure certification. You will see that on the bar as an https as opposed to http. The S denotes the information as secure and encrypted. As a rule, don’t purchase or give out any personal information unless you trust the site and it has a secure certification.
4. If you are not sure, DO NOT FILL OUT ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION! You can always call the institution or go to the site (not the link) and get clarification.

Other things to be aware of:

E-mails that say there is a greeting card from a friend, or family. If it was from someone you knew, they would say who it was. These e-mails have links to sites that will infect your computer with a virus.

E-mails claiming that by sending this to everyone to your address book, you will get money for Microsoft, or help find a lost child. These are not so harmful, but more like a low tech virus (where you as an end user spread it.) Before passing anything to your whole address book, check out www.snopes.com and the site will tell you if the e-mail is a hoax or not.

It stinks that we live in a world where this happens, but if you stay informed, have a good virus program and are careful, there is a very little chance of problems.

I'm sure most of you know all of this but for the one person who doesn't get hurt by this, I hope it helped.