What is Internet Fraud?
Recently, there has been an increase in fraudulent emails that
appear to come from a familiar company or service provider, and
ask you to provide sensitive personal information-- such as your
password, credit card number, or Social Security number-- with
the intent to steal that information from you.
Typically, these scams, or "Phisher" emails, ask you to click on
a link which redirects you to a fake Web site. These sites are
usually very good imitations of the real thing, and include logos
and fonts of the company they are mimicking.
Fraudulent emails may also ask you to submit your personal
information on a form in the actual email, by fax, or by replying
to the email.
The information below will help you protect yourself from
phishers and other forms of Internet fraud:
Recent
Phisher emails targeting EarthLink customers
What
to Do If You've Been Scammed
What is ID Theft?
Tips
for Avoiding Scams
Recognizing
Legitimate EarthLink Requests
Reporting
Fraud & Getting Help
EarthLink's
Commitment to Fighting Fraud
Related
Websites
Other
forms of Internet fraud
What is ID Theft?
Identity theft occurs when someone steals your personal
information to take over your credit accounts, open new ones,
take out a loan, rent an apartment, access bank accounts, or
commit many other crimes using your identity. When it strikes,
the effects can be devastating. What's more, because it
frequently involves no physical theft, identity theft may not be
noticed by its victims until significant damage has been done --
often, several months and thousands of dollars later.
What to do if You've been Scammed
If you think you've submitted sensitive personal information in
response to a fraudulent email, contact your bank or credit card
provider immediately.
If you think you've submitted your EarthLink password in
response to a scam, please contact EarthLink immediately to reset
your password. You can trade secure, real-time messages with an
EarthLink Live Chat representative at:
http://support.earthlink.net/chat
Unless you check your credit report frequently, there's often no
way to tell if identity thieves have used your personal
information to obtain credit accounts or other services in your
name.
To help protect yourself, EarthLink has partnered with Equifax to
provide its members access to the
Equifax Credit Watch credit report monitoring service,
enabling subscribers to get an early alert to new and suspicious
activity on their credit report, receive identity theft
insurance, and obtain access to their credit report.
If you find that your personal information has been used
fraudulently, contact local law enforcement immediately.
Tips for Avoiding Scams
-
Use our new EarthLink Toolbar featuring ScamBlocker, which
blocks access to known fraudulent Web sites. To learn more, and
to download the tool, click
here .
-
Use EarthLink's exclusive spamBlocker, which eliminates
virtually all junk mail before it reaches your inbox. To find
out more about spamBlocker visit: www.earthlink.net/spamblocker
.
-
NEVER email your password, credit card number, secret word, or
PIN, as email is not encrypted and should not be considered
100% secure.
-
Choose your passwords carefully and keep them safe. A Web site
only confirms that a password is correct, not the identity of
the person using it. For more information on creating secure
passwords, visit: www.earthlink.net/password
.
-
DO NOT provide personal information on a Web site unless you're
sure it's legitimately managed by the company with which you're
interacting.
-
NEVER click on a link in an email that requests personal
information, because criminals can redirect a link to an
address other than the one shown. To visit a Web site, always
type the address directly into your Web browser.
-
The safest way to update your account information is to go
directly to the company's account maintenance Web site.
Typically you can visit the company's home page and link it
from there.
Recognizing Legitimate EarthLink Requests
EarthLink will NEVER request that you submit your credit card
number, password, secret word, PIN, or last four digits of your
Social Security number in an email.
Most EarthLink requests will direct you to update your personal
information on your "My Account" Web page: http://myaccount.earthlink.net
However, there are a few exceptions:
-
EarthLink may ask you to email us contact information (name,
email address, mailing address, phone number, etc.).
-
Our phone system, call center representatives, or Live Chat
representatives may ask for your password, secret word, PIN,
last four digits of your credit card number or last four digits
of your Social Security number in order to verify your identity
as the account owner, update your account, or troubleshoot a
problem. These channels are secure and you are safe complying
with the request.
If you receive a request that appears to come from EarthLink, and
are not sure if it's legitimate, do not simply ignore it, as
doing so may put your account at risk.
Reporting Fraud and Getting Help
If you receive a fraudulent email, please submit it, with full
header information, and email source directly to EarthLink
through the
EarthLink Fraud & Abuse Web Form .
Instructions on how to submit fraudulent email(s) with full
header information and email source are provided through the use
of the online forms.
Upon receipt of your email, our Fraud Department will research
the issue and take steps to protect other EarthLink subscribers,
such as blocking the email or shutting down any associated
fraudulent Web site(s).
If you have more questions about online fraud, you can email us
and get a response that day:
http://support.earthlink.net/email
Or trade real-time messages with a friendly Live Chat
representative at:
http://support.earthlink.net/chat
EarthLink's Commitment to fighting Fraud
EarthLink's Fraud Department proactively monitors EarthLink
systems for new fraud threats. When fraudulent Web sites are
discovered, we block access to them, report the sites to get them
shut down as quickly as possible, and notify the authorities.
We are always working with law enforcement agencies to track
down and stop Internet criminals and spammers.
We are also continuously expanding our suite of powerful tools
like spamBlocker to help our subscribers avoid Internet scams and
hassles.
Related Websites
If you are worried that your personal information has been
compromised, please visit the following government websites:
http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/idtheft.html
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