Phishing is a scam through which internet “bad guys” use fake versions of popular websites (or spoofed emails) in order to get you to enter account information ranging from passwords to credit card numbers. They then use this information for all manner of crimes and unpleasant “things”.

To see how easily you would be fooled by a scam like this, McAfee has put together a ten question quiz. The way it works is that you are asked to compare two websites. One of these websites is legitimate, the other is a very good fake copy. At the end you are rated based on how well you did.

My Score

Rating: Tightrope Walker

Not bad. You avoided some deceptive Web sites that would have put your personal information at risk. But you chose others that pose serious security threats that could lead to identity theft or financial losses.

I did fairly well (7 out of 10). I missed MySpace, Bank of America and PayPal. Even though I don’t use any of these sites frequently, I should have caught some of the cardinal signs of a scam site.

Web 2.0 Roundup

Here are a few things that you should look out for in order to avoid phising scams.

Incorrect or strange URLs. Often, scam sites will have slightly different URLs from the site they are trying to scam. If you notice strange sub-domains that you don’t recognize pay extra close attention.

Awkward text. If the text on the site seems awkward, you may have wandered into a Phishing scheme. Generally, corporate websites have very well edited text. If you see misused contractions littering PayPal’s site, you know that there is something wrong.

Incorrect Branding. Always pay attention to strange logos or misused brands. A real site will almost never do this.

Scare Tactics. If a site seems to be trying to scare you into entering account information, chances are there is something fishy going on. It is far better to call up the company in question than to risk losing your account information to crooks.

You should really give McAfee’s test a try, report your score and impressions back here.

[Make sure to subscribe to the RSS feed before leaving.]