E-mail spoofing involves forging a sender's address on e-mail messages. It can be used by malicious individuals to mislead e-mail recipients into reading and responding to deceptive mail. These phony messages can jeopardize the online privacy of consumers and damage the reputation of the companies purported to have sent the messages. Spoofed e-mail often contains phishing scams. In a phishing scam, a spammer, posing as a trusted party such as a bank or reputable online vendor, sends millions of e-mail messages directing recipients to Web sites that appear to be official but are in reality fraudulent. Visitors to these Web sites are asked to disclose personal information, such as credit card numbers, or to purchase counterfeit or pirated products. The number and sophistication of phishing scams sent to consumers is increasing dramatically. As a general rule, you should be careful about giving out your personal financial information over the Internet.
Phishing (FISH.ing): Creating a replica of an existing Web page to fool a user into submitting personal, financial, or password data. Phishing is a type of deception designed to steal your identity. In phishing scams, scam artists try to get you to disclose valuable personal data like credit card numbers, passwords, account data, or other information by convincing you to provide it under false pretenses. Phishing schemes are usually delivered online through spam e-mail or pop-up windows. However, they can be carried out in person or even over the phone.
A phishing scam sent by e-mail may start with con artists who send millions of e-mail messages that appear to come from popular Web sites or sites that you trust, like your bank or credit card company. The e-mail messages, pop-up windows, and the Web sites they link to appear official enough that they deceive many people into believing that they are legitimate. Unsuspecting people too often respond to these requests for their credit card numbers, passwords, account information, or other personal data.
As scam artists become more sophisticated, so do their phishing e-mail messages and pop-up windows. They often include official-looking logos from real organizations and other identifying information taken directly from legitimate Web sites. To make these phishing e-mail messages look even more legitimate, the scam artists may place a link in them that appears to go to the legitimate Web site (1), but it actually takes you to a phony scam site (2) or possibly a pop-up window that looks exactly like the official site. These copycat sites are also called "spoofed" Web sites. Once you're at one of these spoofed sites, you might unwittingly send personal information to the con artists. They then often use your information to purchase goods, apply for a new credit card, or otherwise steal your identity.
Step 1: Report the incident to TRICARE at:
TRICARE Management Activity
Attention: Privacy Office
5111 Leesburg Pike, Suite 810
Falls Church, VA 22041
Step 2: Change the passwords on all your accounts
Step 3: Contact the the fraud departments of the three consumer credit reporting companies to place a fraud alert on your credit report.
The fraud alert tells creditors to contact you before opening any new accounts or making changes to your existing accounts.
Step 4: Routinely review your credit card and bank statements
Step 5: Use up-to-date antivirus and anti-spyware software
