Phishing, as wikipedia puts it, is a criminal activity using social engineering techniques. I receive daily mails that seem to come from respected websites like ebay, amazon or financial sites that ask me to update my software by following a link from within the email. This leads to a fake website that looks similar to the website that you normally visit. Once you enter your login data the criminals will have and use that information for their own advantage.
Worst case ? They transfer all your money from your bank account or create bogus ebay auctions for great buy it now prices. The average user has a hard time detecting fake websites. A guideline would be to never click on links in emails, check the SSL lock in the status bar and take a look at the sites certificate. Most users do not know about this, enter Phishtank SiteChecker.
http://gamespotting.net/phishtank/?page_id=7
Worst case ? They transfer all your money from your bank account or create bogus ebay auctions for great buy it now prices. The average user has a hard time detecting fake websites. A guideline would be to never click on links in emails, check the SSL lock in the status bar and take a look at the sites certificate. Most users do not know about this, enter Phishtank SiteChecker.
http://gamespotting.net/phishtank/?page_id=7
