Wonderful news and your good fortune! DGK received a fax from a man who just received an inheritance. He wanted to invest his new fortune in a business located in the United States. All we have to do to claim a large sum of money is fill in the form with names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and fax back the form.
Does that sound wonderful? The fax did not request any banking information; it did not request an exchange of monies. It was a random fax sent to DGK with a wish to invest in our business. Who would turn that away?
That is phishing (pronounced fishing). Send out the fax see if it comes back and maybe hook the unsuspecting person into giving more information. It is an attempt to steal. Whether the attempt was for identity theft or to obtain further information that leads directly to bank accounts; it is an attempt to steal.
My husband and I both received a text stating that we won a $1,000 gift card to a national store. Neither of us has entered any contests nor have we shopped in that store since December of 2011. When you click on the link in the text, you are redirected to another page asking for personal identifiable information (PII): name, address, birthdate, email address, telephone numbers, etc. PHISHING!
So how do you protect yourself from phishing when maybe you really did win a contest? I think the advice I like best is pick up the phone and call. Got an email from a bank to verify your account number, call them. Won a contest from a national store, call them. Received a fax from a business investor, call the telephone number provided, in our case the number was not a valid telephone number.
For more information about protecting yourself from phishing visit: http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/phishing.htm
If you are interested in insurance for identify theft situations, call DGK we can help you with coverage options.
