Report Phishing

Phishing is one of the biggest threats facing internet users today. It doesn't matter who you are, or what type of operating system your computer runs on, this scam will make its way to you in one form or another. Whether or not you're victimized all depends on how you react upon being approached.

What is phishing?

Phishing is an attack in which someone delivers an email claiming to be sent from a legitimate financial institution or e-commerce provider. The purpose of this email is to lure you into providing personal information by replying or clicking a link that redirects you to a fraudulent website. Most of the time, these websites are designed so well they actually look identical to the real bank or e-commerce provider.

If you happen to enter your personal details on this website, your information will be instantly transmitted to the attackers. By using this method of social engineering, con artists are able to gain sensitive details such as a username and password. In many cases, they'll attempt to convince the victim to submit credit card and bank account details or even a Social Security number.

Steps to report phishing

If you have received one of these suspicious phishing emails and want to report phishing, here is how it can be done:

Most companies allow you to report phishing by sending a copy of the email directly to them. For example, if a con artist sent you a phishing email purporting the institution SunTrust Bank, you could forward the message to them by sending it to abuse@suntrust.com If you're located in the U.S., you can also forward a copy of the message to the FTC (Federal Trade Center) at spam@uce.gov

If you do not live in the U.S. and the abuse@domain.com bounces or returns a failed delivery notice, you can report phishing by visiting the legitimate website which can be done by accessing a pre-existing bookmark or typing the correct URL in your web browser bar. Never use the link provided in the phishing email. Once you're on the site, look for a link that allows you to report phishing or other suspicious activity. For eBay, this would be the "Security & Resource Center" which is located at the bottom of their homepage. If you can't find information similar to this, look for a genuine contact resource and express your concerns via email or web form. Contact information for most websites is easily accessible and can be found at the top or bottom of the page.

If you still cannot find adequate contact information for a particular company, do not give up; there are several methods that can be used to overcome this issue. For instance, you can always perform a domain name lookup on a site like Whois. It's important to remember that the information on Whois is often outdated and some of the contact details may be listed to inactive accounts. When all else fails, you can perform a Google search of the company you're looking to contact by typing "(my institution) contact information" into the search field.

Whatever method you choose to report phishing scams, make sure to forward the message as an attachment. This will preserve the HTML encoding and header information, which will aid the receiving company in their investigative endeavors.