PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release:

August 17, 2004
Contact: William J. Smith (718) 556-7150

District Attorney Donovan Alerts Staten Islanders of Online “Phishing” Scam

STATEN ISLAND, NY - With more and more Staten Islanders utilizing the internet as an essential part of their daily lives, District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan, Jr. wants to publicize steps to help Islanders avoid becoming a victim of a common identity theft scheme called “Phishing.”

Phishing is the term coined by hackers who imitate legitimate companies in e-mails, or pop-up windows to entice people to share passwords or credit card numbers. “This scheme is especially dangerous to businesses and consumers alike because it erodes the trust that people place in using e-mail as a legitimate source of business communications,” stated Donovan. “By asking you to disclose your account numbers, Social Security number, or other personal information, the criminals operating the scams are gathering your information in order to penetrate your account or open new accounts utilizing your identity.”

Although the District Attorney’s office has not received any reports of Staten Islanders falling prey to this scam, Donovan said he was alerted to the scheme by a staff member who received an e-mail from a hacker pretending to represent Ebay, the online auction site. The e-mail claimed that the client’s Ebay account would be terminated if they did not verify the password and username they used on the site. “Anyone using Ebay would be shocked by the appearance of this e-mail, it gave every indication that it was legitimate correspondence from Ebay.”

To protect their identity online from Phishing, District Attorney Donovan urges Staten Islanders to follow these suggestions:

• If you receive an unexpected e-mail saying your account will be shut-down unless you confirm your billing information, do not reply or click any links in the e-mail body.

• Before submitting financial information through a Web site, look for the “lock” icon on the browser’s status bar. It means your information is secure during the transmission.

• If you are uncertain regarding the information in an e-mail, contact the company through an address or telephone number you know to be genuine.

• If you unknowingly supplied personal or financial information, contact your bank or credit-card company immediately.

• If you receive an e-mail that you believe may be an example of Phishing, you should immediately forward the e-mail to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at spam@uce.gov.

• If you have been victimized in a Phishing scam, you should be sure to file a complaint with the FTC at www.ftc.gov.

“The anonymity of cyberspace, as well as the existence of offshore computer hackers, makes it difficult to arrest these scammers, so the burden falls on the average person to be educated to the potential dangers lurking out there,” added District Attorney Donovan.

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