How to Avoid Becoming A Victim
What is phishing?
What is a phishing scam?
How does phishing work?
What does a phishing scam look like?

1. If you get an e-mail or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, don't reply and don't click on the link in the message.
2. If you receive a phone call from a company or financial institution you do business with asking for your personal or account information, do not give them any information. Instead, get the person's name and a phone number where you can call them back. Then call the business and verify whether or not the call was legitimate.
3. Use anti-virus software and a firewall, and keep them up-to-date.
4. Don't e-mail personal or financial information.
5. Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to check for unauthorized charges.
6. Be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files from emails.
7. Forward spam that is phishing for information to spam@uce.gov and to the company, bank, or organization impersonated in the phishing email.
8. If you believe you've been scammed, file your complaint at ftc.gov , and then visit the FTC's Identity Theft website at www.consumer.gov/idtheft .

What is phishing?
Phishing is a type of deception designed to steal your identity.

What is a phishing scam?
A phishing scam is just another attempt to get valuable information. 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 can be carried out in person, over the phone, or online through spam e-mail or pop-up windows. Vantria Federal Credit Union will never request our members to update their personal or account information via web links contained within e-mails. Furthermore, any updates to your account or personal information made by phone, must be verified with a security password. Please report suspicious or phishing e-mails or phone calls to Vantria Federal Credit Union by calling 703-913-0700 or toll-free at 800-657-9359.

How does phishing work?
E-mail scammers send a mass e-mail to every e-mail address they can find. Typically the message will appear to come from popular Web sites or sites that you trust, like your credit union 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. The e-mail states that you should update your information for one reason or another, and they usually provide a link that you can click to do so. Unsuspecting people too often respond to these requests for their credit card numbers, passwords, account information, or other personal data. Other types of scams carried out by telephone or in person may actually obtain personal information about you by going through your trash or mailbox.

What does a phishing scam look like?
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, but it actually takes you to a phony scam site, 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. To see updated examples of popular phishing scams or to report a possible phishing scam, visit the Anti-Phishing Working Group Archive .