Are you the Phisherman's friend?

No, this is not a spelling error. Although this has nothing to do with online casinos and gambling per se, phishing does affect you as well. We therefore advise you to read this article carefully. You might not have heard about phishing yet, but if you use the internet and have an email account chances are you have seen phishing in action. Hopefully you have not fallen victim to it yet.

What is phishing?

Phishing is a method used by some people to obtain credit card or (bank) account information from innocent internet users. You might have received emails from a well known banks informing you that they are performing a security upgrade or a to verify your account. These emails look real, the email appears to originate from the bank and there usually is a link which appears to point to the website of the bank. Unfortunately the link does not really point to the website of the bank (or whatever organisation they pretend to be). Instead you are taken to a different website where you are asked to hand over account or credit card information. The site looks like it is from the bank but if you look at the web address... it is not.

When you enter the information requested you can be sure that any moment your credit card is used all over the net and that your bank account will be empty.

How can you protect yourself

Banks will normally not approach you by email for security updates etc. Always be very cautious when you receive emails like these. Phishing emails will almost always ask you for your usernames, passwords or credit card numbers. The emails are also not addressed to you personally as the phisherman does not know your name. A bank, eBay etc. do know your name and will address you by your name.

If in any doubt, we advise you to contact the company by phone or log onto their website by typing in their web address. Never use the link provided in the email. We also advise you to report these phishing emails to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, a group of companies, organisations and law enforcement agencies world wide. This group will use the information to try and eliminate this form of identity theft and fraud.