Surviving in a Cyber World
Huntersville Police Department
July 1, 2010
Plenty of Phish in the Sea
Sorry about the late cybertip
this week, but to be honest I
completely forgot about it.
Phishing, as defined by
Wikipedia, “is the criminally
fraudulent process of
attempting to acquire sensitive
information such as usernames,
passwords and credit card
details by masquerading as a
trustworthy entity in an
electronic communication.”
Phishing usually involves the
establishment of a fake website
that is almost indistinguishable
from the website it is mimicking.
Most often this is manifested by
a user receiving an email
purporting to be from eBay, Pay
Pal, Bank of America, etc. The
content of the email will ask the
user to click on a link
embedded in the email and
redirect that person to the fake
website. The user will enter
their username and password,
but will receive an error
message that something went
wrong during the transaction
and to try again at a later date.
Unbeknownst to the victim, their
banking accounts have just
If you want peace, prepare Justice.
Volume 1, Issue 6
Introductions
been compromised and are left Detective
open to attackers to siphon off Walker is the
the money in the accounts or to Detective from
establish lines of credit for the
fraudulent transactions. Huntersville
Police
Phishing attacks have also been
Department
used to target social networking
that is
sites like Myspace and
responsible for
Facebook. Criminals, realizing
cyber-crime. Detective Walker has been
that people place a lot of
with the Huntersville Police Department
personal information on their
since November of 2008. Prior to that
pages, attempt to redirect users
Detective Walker was an investigator for
to fake sites in an attempt to
the Durham Police Department where he
gain their access credentials.
filled a similar role.
The best way to avoid phishing
Detective Walker is available for internet
attacks is to never click a link in
safety presentations as well as general
an email. If you need to go to
inquiries about cyber-crimes. Detective
eBay, type the address yourself.
Walker can be reached at the following:
If you receive an email stating
there is a problem with your 102 Gilead Rd
bank account, call them. Most
PO Box 664
major banks have 24 hour
customer support of some kind. Huntersville, NC 28070
mwalker@huntersville.org
(704) 875-6542
In this issue:
Phishing 1
Introductions 1
Phishing Warning 2