This is an important article to read if you value your privacy. Because I was aware of the new internet scam called "phishing" I was able to avoid gettig scammed last week when I received what appeared to be a regular email from Amazon. I do lots of business with Amazon and order something nearly every week from them. The email looked exactly like it was from them and told me my account was frozen until due to a security glitch and that I needed to click on line and complete a from.
I was just about ready to do that when I remembered the new Internet scam so I called Amazon first and sure enough this was an evil email that was designed to steal all my credit card information and possibly my identity.
So please, please be careful out there folks. This USA Today article describes some of the details of how these criminals are able to pull this off. But the bottom line is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER fill out your password and login on line in response to an email from your most trusted vendor. ALWAYS call them first to confirm if the email is legitimate as it probably isn't. Virtually any reputable on line business will not do this.
Be careful out there folks, there are many criminals ready and eager to steal your money and ID.
USA Today September 8, 2004