ID theft and phishing scams

Never respond to an e-mail message from a bank or credit card company that requests your personal information.

Minimize the possible damage that responding to fraudulent e-mails might cause.

These e-mail scams might look like they come from your corporate Human Resources group, or someone in a department or group you belong to.

Don't respond or click links in the text, do report the mail to the faked organization.

Don’t be fooled by that easy money e-mail hoax.

Fraudsters use e-mails and fake customer services phone numbers to lure unsuspecting targets into revealing personal information.

Recognize and avoid fake e-cards by applying the same caution you would use with any piece of e-mail you receive

Microsoft does not need your credit card number to validate your copy of Windows. Find out more about this scam.

Microsoft never attaches software updates to our security communications. Find out about other clues that can help you spot e-mail that claims to be from Microsoft, but isn't.

Even more insidious than phishing, pharming redirects traffic to legitimate sites to fake ones, where scammers can "harvest" your usernames and passwords.

Before you enter any information, verify that the site you're on is secure and certified.