Italy arrests 26 for phishing operation

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Web sites and e-mails soliciting sensitive financial information from unsuspecting individuals — known as phishing — have been the subject of increased attention by police forces around the world. Most recently, 18 people in Italy and eight from Eastern European countries have been arrested by Italian authorities for an alleged scam that used e-mails to urge victims to hand over sensitive financial information, which was then used to draw money from their accounts.

According to a report from InfoWorld, police in Japan made their first arrest for phishing early last year. The person was accused of illegally obtaining IDs and passwords for Yahoo Auctions and using them to resell goods worth tens of thousands of dollars. At around the same time, authorities in Bulgaria arrested eight people for a phishing scam that targeted users of Microsoft's MSN service. Phishing-related arrests have also been made in the United States.

Phishing is a scam where fraudsters use the Internet to send spam e-mail or Web site pop-up messages to lure unsuspecting victims to give up personal and financial information. Here is some commonsense advice for avoiding phishing attempts:

Use regularly updated anti-virus and anti-spy ware software, as well as a firewall.

Don't open e-mail from senders you do not recognize — these will almost certainly be spam anyway. The mere opening of a message is enough to launch malicious software on your computer. And, if you do happen to open such a message, never open anything attached to it. In fact, be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files from emails you receive, regardless of who sent them.

Never reply to e-mail or pop-up messages that ask for personal or financial information, and don't click on any links contained in such a message or pop-up. Phishers often disguise links to make them look like they go one place, when actually sending you to a different site.

Some "scammers" send an email that appears to be from a legitimate business and ask you to call a phone number to update your account or access a "refund." Never respond to such calls. If you need to contact an organization you do business with, call the number on your financial statements or on the back of your credit card, or type in the web address yourself.

Don't e-mail personal or financial information to anyone — e-mail is never secure from prying eyes.

Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to check for unauthorized charges.

If you believe you have been a victim, or are a potential victim of a "Phishing" fraud scheme please contact Phone Busters by calling 1-888-495-8501 or e-mail at info@phonebusters.com. Phone Busters is a division of the Ontario (Canada) Provincial Police (OPP).

If you live in the U.S. please contact your local authorities as well as the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) at 1-877-438-4338 in addition to contacting Phone Busters.