Phishing is an intelligent internet scam. Phishing messages are sent with the purpose of illegally obtaining sensitive information such as passwords, credit card details, usernames, etc. Phishing messages are sent by seemingly legitimate companies, such as AliPay, Payoneer, Stripe, PayPal, or your bank, and these mails usually warn the user about a suspicious activity and ask the user to verify their accounts, passwords, usernames, etc. Users are thus deceived because they believe that they maintain communication with a trustworthy entity. One of the outcomes from phishing messages is identity theft, or credit card fraud. There are some steps that people can take to protect themselves from becoming a phishing victim. When they are contacted about verifying a certain account, they should check with the company directly before typing in any private information. Also, when PayPal contact their customers, they avoid using generic terms, but instead they use people’s actual usernames. Finally, users should avoid clicking on hyperlinks which are included in the suspicious emails, but rather go to the actual website.
