Consumer Advice: How to Avoid Phishing Scams (extracted from www.antiphishing.org)
The number and sophistication of phishing scams sent out to consumers is continuing to increase dramatically. While online banking and e-commerce is very safe, as a general rule you should be careful about giving out your personal financial information over the Internet. The Anti-Phishing Working Group has compiled a list of recommendations below that you can use to avoid becoming a victim of these scams.

1. Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information

unless the email is digitally signed, you can't be sure it wasn't forged or 'spoofed' phishers typically include upsetting or exciting (but false) statements in their emails to get people to react immediately  they typically ask for information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc. phisher emails are typically NOT personalized, while valid messages from your bank or e-commerce company generally are

2. Don't use the links in an email to get to any web page, if you suspect the message might not be authentic

instead, call the company on the telephone, or log onto the website directly by typing in the Web address in your browser

3. Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information

you should only communicate information such as credit card numbers or account information via a secure website or the telephone

4. Always ensure that you're using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser

to make sure you're on a secure Web server, check the beginning of the Web address in your browsers address bar - it should be "https://" rather than just "http://"

5. Consider installing a Web browser tool bar to help protect you from known phishing fraud websites

EarthLink ScamBlocker is part of a free browser toolbar that alerts you before you visit a page that's on Earthlink's list of known fraudulent phisher Web sites. Its free to all Internet users - download at http://www.earthlink.net/earthlinktoolbar

6. Regularly log into your online accounts

don't leave it for as long as a month before you check each account

7. Regularly check your bank, credit and debit card statements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate

if anything is suspicious, contact your bank and all card issuers

8. Ensure that your browser is up to date and security patches applied  

in particular, people who use the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser should immediately go to the Microsoft Security home page -- http://www.microsoft.com/security/ -- to download a special patch relating to certain phishing schemes

9. Always report "phishing" or “spoofed” e-mails to the following groups:

forward the email to reportphishing@antiphishing.com forward the email to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov forward the email to the "abuse" email address at the company that is being spoofed (e.g. "spoof@ebay.com") when forwarding spoofed messages, always include the entire original email with its original header information intact notify the Internet Fraud Complaint Center of the FBI by filing a complaint on their website: www.ifccfbi.gov/