new phish to phry

A phishing scam is an email sent en masse to random email addresses under the guise of being from an official source like PayPal or amazon.com. It sends you to a site which is not the original and attempts to get you to enter personal financial information. The unscrupulous phisher then drains your bank account, steals your identity, etc.

Generally, it's best not even to visit the phisher's site, especially if you are using Internet Explorer, which can sometimes be a channel for all kinds of spyware and malware. Since that's the browser of choice for the vast majority of web surfers, it's the phisher's primary target. Going with Firefox or Safari is a safer choice.

Phishers are getting better and better at their game, doing all sorts of things to make unwitting Internet users divulge their information. However, it seems that the majority of phishers are people for whom English is not their primary language. The one I got this morning pointed me to a site that said this:

Protecting the security of your PayPal account is our primary concern, and we apologize for any incontinence it may cause.

I have to say that I would be very worried if my gastro-intestinal system was compromised by an Internet site.