Clark Howard's Tips

Whaling ups the phishing ante

April 17, 2008

You've heard of phishing, right? That's where you get those scam e-mails purporting to be from your bank or other financial institution. Now there's a new phenomenon called "whaling."

According to CNET.com, top corporate executives and business owners have been getting e-mails alerting them to a bogus U.S. District Court subpoena. When you click on the link in the e-mail, you're taken to what looks like a real subpoena. But it's not, and it loads a key-logger virus onto your computer. The key-logger captures all your account numbers and passwords, and it even alerts the criminals when you log on to your bank or brokerage account. The criminals then sign in, change your password and steal your money.

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Phishing is targeted at the general public. But whaling only targets the big fish in corporate America or small business owners, hence the name.

It's been estimated that 2,000 people have fallen prey so far to whaling. If you're among them, here's what you need to do: Run an anti-virus program on your computer to remove the key-logger. Clark has a couple of suggestions for spyware blockers that you might want to check out. Then change all your passwords at your bank or brokerage house.

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