Phishing, and Pharming, and Fraud. Oh My!

Protecting Your Business from Online Scams

Online scams aimed at stealing vital personal information in order to commit financial fraud are cropping up all over the place. Owning your own business doesn’t make you immune; in fact, it makes you more vulnerable. Falling victim to just one of these scams can ruin your credit, sometimes taking years to repair and shortening your business’s shelf life. But you can avoid it; and believe us, prevention is much easier than remediation.

Before you can avoid these common online scams you must know what they are. Here are two definitions you should know:

Pharming: A fraudulent attempt to access private financial information by redirecting traffic from a legitimate website to an illegitimate one. Users believe they’re sharing information with a secured site only to later discover they’ve been scammed. Pharmers could even hijack your website, taking advantage of your visitors and tainting your reputation all in one fell swoop.

Phishing: Luring email recipients into providing private financial information using scare, sympathy, or get-rich-quick schemes.

So how do you avoid online scams? Here are a few do’s and don’ts to remember:

DO

1. Do become informed. Awareness can stand between you and the horrible consequences of an online scam. Just knowing what pharming and phishing are can help you recognize an online scam when you see one.
2. Do protect yourself. There are a lot of hardware, software, and spam blocking programs available to shield you from fraudulent emails; you can also get a spam firewall attached to your home computer or hire a security company to protect your inbox and your server.
3. Do look for the padlock. Whenever entering private information into a web form, look at the bottom right-hand corner of your browser for the padlock icon, indicating that you are accessing a secure server.
4. Do double-check. If you receive an email asking you to verify personal information, call the number on your statement rather than the email provided in the email before responding.
5. Do inform employees of the hazards of online scams. Teach them to look for the signs and to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and your company.

DO NOT

1. Do not access your bank account from an email link. This is one way pharmers gain access over financial information, by duplicating a legitimate website with an illegitimate one.
2. Do not fill out surveys included with contests and drawings. This is another way scammers lure you into providing them with your personal information.
3. Do not fall for too-good-to-be true opportunities. Generally the only people benefiting from these “opportunities” are the scammers.
4. Do not invest in stock raved about in an email or newsletter without doing any further research.
5. Do not blindly handover information such as usernames, passwords, account numbers, social security numbers, date of birth, etc.
6. You can keep safe from online scams as long as you are observant and aware. And take precautions to protect yourself and your business from criminal activity over the Internet. It can be the difference between a victorious business or a victimized one.

References
Watts, Dechay. “How to Protect Your Business from Pharming and Phishing and Other Online Spam Scams.” startupnation.com.

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