Jump ahead to later 90's and Internet is just coming into play as a business medium. I'm personally aware of several companies which made themselves appear much larger than they were. How? Primarily by putting up pictures of their "office" building on their company website. The pictures they put up however, weren't actually their offices. They were in an apartment, or basement in reality. But pictures showed gorgeous, upscale office buildings. They made themselves look much bigger and successful than they actually were.

And today we have thousands of one page websites which tout accomplishments of their owners. These websites make many claims and sometimes those claims are hard to believe.

You see, there really are consultants in this world who make several thousands of dollars for seminar presentations. But those consultants usually have a corporate style, polished website. You can tell as soon as you get there that they've spared no expense in getting site professionally done. You'll find links on site too -- links to corporate and/or consultant information, links to additional resources, links to recent and upcoming seminars. There are links to their books too of course, and sometimes these links lead to Amazon or publisher's site. If book is electronically published, you can even buy it right on site. The point is though: there is detailed information there, not just sales hype. In short, there is supporting evidence that they are who they say they are.

History shows us that people can be fooled into thinking world is coming to an end just from a radio show. History shows us that people will believe a book is wonderful even when they've never actually seen it themselves. History has shown us that what you think you see or hear is not actually what you've seen or heard.

So, when you land on one of those slick, one page sales hype Web sites. Before you spend your hard earned money, stop and think a bit. Is person behind site more likely telling whole truth -- or skewing it in a way that will make you believe what they want you to believe?

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© 2002, Kathy Burns

Think you are covered because you know what phishing is and you have an idea on how to handle these attacks, sit back because you have not heard it all. Research indicates that dramatic increase in number of fraud-based websites over past few months may result not only in identity theft, but also in false belief that you have purchased something online when in fact, you have not! Unlike phishing attacks that hijack brand of trusted e-commerce or financial institutions, these web sites are presented as generic ecommerce sites. How do they operate? Well, users believe they are ordering legitimate products or applying for a legitimate mortgage when in reality, they are becoming fraud victims. The most common fraud-based web sites are fake loan scams, mortgage frauds, online pharmacy frauds, and fake online banking institutions. In addition to direct cost of fraud and enduring effects of identity theft for consumers, growth of criminal spam threatens integrity and brand of organizations that do business online. Phishing attacks are growing quickly both in number and sophistication. If you have been tricked this way, you should assume that you will become a victim of credit card fraud, bank fraud, or identity theft. Some basic advice on what to do in this situation if you have given out your credit, debit or ATM card, or bank account information, is to report theft of this information to card issuer or bank as quickly as possible. Canceling your account and opening a new one is advisable in addition to reviewing your billing statements carefully after loss. How can you solve your company’s email problems and keep right information flowing? Phishing is one of most dangerous forms of spam, thus if you are worried about problem of phishing, online fraud, and email spoofing, you should first control spam in your mailbox and report those who are sending it. To take an active role in fight against spam, you can become a member of Anti-Spam League for free and learn how to detect and recognize potential phishing and online fraud threats. Find out how by visiting www.Anti-Spam-League.org