| It seems like the volume of email spam has doubled | | | | CitiBank (or other well known entities). Phishing |
| in the last month. Increasingly, we receive daily emails | | | | attacks are successful 5% of the time. |
| for better mortgage rates, pharmaceutical discounts, | | | | The primary motivation behind these emails is identity |
| and offers to enlarge body parts we don't even | | | | theft. Scammers are looking to get you to their |
| have. | | | | website and get your information. If the authenticity |
| The next generation of sophisticated tools is available | | | | of the sender is questionable, call the company that |
| to email spammers. Hidden code can be embedded | | | | sent the email. Most business email will also contain a |
| into email allowing the sender to track it. A "spam | | | | phone number. |
| beacon" lets the sender know that this is a valid, live, | | | | Earthlink is trying to address this problem by releasing |
| email address. The sender can also tell if you've | | | | new software. Its latest anti-spam software is |
| opened the email before you tossed it. "Nearly half of | | | | available to both members and non-members. The |
| all spam is bugged with so-called "spam beacons" for | | | | software installs with Internet Explorer and |
| tracking users who open junk mail, said e-mail filtering | | | | automatically downloads a list of known "scam" |
| firm MX." | | | | websites. If you surf over to a site on the list, you |
| The latest email scams have also evolved. The | | | | will receive a warning. |
| newest scams are called phishing attacks. Spammers | | | | Given the large volume of unsolicited email that must |
| copy and paste web coding, making their email | | | | be sorted through and deleted daily by businesses, |
| message appear to be official. They provide links to | | | | do not rely on email as your primary vehicle of |
| "look alike" websites where they try to trick you into | | | | communication. If the information is time sensitive, it's |
| revealing your personal financial information, by asking | | | | best to follow up with a phone call. |
| you to update an account such as Ebay, PayPal or | | | | |