By Mitch Hampson
The problem at the moment is when you receive an email which directs you to a website that you are familiar with, then you are asked to update all of your personal information, I think just about everyone has probably received one of these.

They will then say that the website needs you to update all your personal details like passwords, credit card numbers etc. Obviously you recognise the name of the business and realise you have done business with them in the past, so you feel this is a legitimate question and provide all the information they have requested, big mistake.

To your horror you find that it was a bogus website setup with only one thing in mind to steal all your information, regrettably you have just been "phished".

Phishing (pronounced as "fishing") is defined as the act of sending an email to a recipient falsely claiming to have an established, legitimate business. What they are trying to do is just steal your identity.

It is often very difficult to know which is a legitimate email to one that is phishing for information at first glance. The email may look like it is from a legitimate company. Everything looks kosher like a proper .com address even down to the clickable link, but they are all fake websites built to replicate the original.

Lots of these people involved in this are professional criminals and will have gone to great lengths to create these emails. When getting these emails remember that things like the senders name can easily be changed.

Many of these people are professional criminals. They have spent a lot of time in creating emails that look authentic. Remember looks can be deceiving. Phishers will even copy things like logos or images from the original sites then they will make it easy to go there by using clickable links.

An easy way to check if the site is real is to just point your mouse over the link and check the bottom left corner of your PC screen and this will tell you which website you are really going to, if it doesn't match up it probably isn't legit, please beware.

Don't even click on the links at all if you are in the least bit dubious, just delete the email and empty your trash box, if you think that you might want to check that your company wants you to update any info, just type in the URL by hand, that way at least you know you are going to the correct website.

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At the moment there is no other precaution against phishing other than constant vigilance. Be aware of the problem, stay alert and do not allow yourself to become a victim of Internet scams. If you find yourself a victim of identity theft, cancel your accounts immediately and contact the authorities.