Internet scammers are becoming more
creative and cunning in evolving confidence tricks. No longer do phishing
emails come written in lousy grammar or from strange and suspicious websites.
Nowadays, phishing websites clone genuine and trusted websites, so that
internet users can be lured to walk in without a second thought. In the recent
years, cyber security has witnessed lot of efforts from people to report
phishing websites that mimic:
●
Top MNCs and Government organizations with
emails directing job seekers to enter phishing websites and even pay upfront
for deposits and application fees
●
Government departments such as the IRS and the
FBI. Many businesses receive false notices from phishing websites that their
taxes are overdue or that some compliance has not been met with.
●
Technical support scam is the most happening
type of scam, where people must report phishing websites immediately, that
requires them to download malware into their systems.
●
Banks are among the top misrepresented
organizations by way of phishing websites. This is the reason why many banks
urge their customers to use their customized secure platform to access internet
banking and to report phishing websites that may approach their customers.
Report
phishing websites to the organizations misrepresented
This will help in getting the crime
resolved much faster. To report phishing websites, an email complaint must be
directed to the organization that has been mimicked by the scammers. A
screenshot of the phishing website will be of immense help. Most business
houses have a strong scam protection department which will ensure speedy action
against their identity being misused. Even in the case where the duplication in
name and identity has happened without any ulterior motive, they will proceed
with legal charges for infringement of intellectual property. In these cases,
the victims must produce records of all email threads and details of financial
transactions performed on the phishing websites.
Report
phishing websites while shopping online
Online shopping portals witness huge
amount of financial traffic, with shoppers paying by means of credit, debit
cards and net banking. Many phishing websites that misrepresent trusted
shopping portals like Amazon, eBay and Flipkart are on the active scenario, where
attempts to report phishing websites are overlooked. These scammers make a
large amount of money by redirecting online payments as well as commence bigger
financial frauds like identity fraud. Using the credentials keyed in, the
scammers are able to hack into the bank accounts of the victims. This
necessitates an urgent need to report phishing websites.
Report
phishing websites to cyber police
One cannot underestimate the
importance of this statement. Different cybercrime protection agencies operate
in different jurisdictions. There are many watchdog organizations like Action
Fraud, Identity Theft Resource Center, to mention a few, that can navigate
victims and connect them to the right places to report phishing websites. For
the citizens of US, complaints to report phishing website can be lodged with
the IC3, which is a multi-pronged organization that challenges cybercrime. In
UK, Action Fraud is the cyber hygiene enhancer, which accepts complaints of
phishing websites.
