Phishing is what they call those e-mails that attempt to trick you into giving up personal information, usually financial, which is then used to steal your identity and rape your bank account and or credit cards.

The latest one, I have seen, is using some old tricks but with new bait. The e-mail appears to come from Google’s Adsense program. It warns you that you will not receive any more payments, unless you update your information. Which you can do with the link provided in said e-mail.

To the average user, everything might look ok at first glance. However, if you try to reply to the e-mail, it will bounce back. If you click on the Google AdSense link that is provided, you will most likely end up at a domain that has google and adsense in it. But on closer inspection you will see there is more to the domain, like a .tw or other domain. Don’t be fooled by how the page looks like the real thing.

So if you get one of these e-mails, don’t click on it. And if you do have a Google Adsense or any other account, that you have received an e-mail informing you that it needs updating, never click on the link in the e-mail. It’s very easy to forge a link in any e-mail and is common in phishing scams. Type the address directly into your browser, or use google or some other search engine to find it for you.

Stay tuned for an article on how to spot phishing scams.