Fighting e-mail fraud.The American Financial Services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. Association Education Foundation (AFSAEF AFSAEF American Financial Services Association Education Foundation ), Washington, D.C., is helping consumers and legitimate businesses fight e-mail fraud Fraud has existed perhaps as long or longer than money. Any new sociological change can engender new forms of fraud, or other crime. Almost as soon as e-mail became widely used, it began to be used to defraud people via E-mail fraud. . The association has published a list of common characteristics of the fraudulent practice known as phishing, where a sender poses as a legitimate business with the intent of encouraging e-mail recipients to provide information necessary to access private financial accounts. "Phishing, also known as spoofing, is essentially an electronic form of identity theft," says Susie Irvine, AFSAEF president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. . According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the association, phishing hallmarks include a sense of urgency, obvious spelling and grammatical errors, a lack of a personal salutation, and input fields that ask for account numbers or passwords. Fraud-fighting practices recommended by AFSAEF include the following: * View any e-mail requests for financial information suspiciously. Visit the business's Web site to obtain a legitimate phone number or e-mail address. Then contact the business to verify that the request is legitimate. * Don't assume that an e-mail message containing an authentic-looking business logo is legitimate. * Contact your financial institution immediately if you inadvertently supply sensitive information. * Forward suspicious e-mails, with their original header information, to 1) the legitimate business, 2) the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.com, and 3) the Anti-Phishing Working Group The AntiPhishing Working Group (APWG) is a consortium that brings together businesses affected by phishing attacks, businesses that provide security products and law enforcement. The APWG has more than 2700+ members from more than 1600 companies & agencies worldwide. at reportphishing@antiphishing.com. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, there were 1,142 active phishing sites in October 2004 alone. |
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