Here’s the thing – from now on, ANY TIME you get an email that sends you to a PayPal/Bank of America/Google Adsense/eBay/your-bank-name site that you know is a scam site [that just wants your login/password/credit card/bank details] – immediately report it to PhishTank.com.
They are the database that many browsers and security firewalls automatically use – within seconds, millions of people are protected!. To see if YOUR browser/network is using this service, try this url picked at random from Phishtank’s database this morning – http://bloccatoinlinea.net/
I use Firefox mainly and for me, I get a nice message like this:
Firefox Warns about visiting a Phishing Site
If you get ’straight through’ without any warnings then you need to seriously consider upgrading your browser to FireFox 3 or even the spiffy new Google Chrome.
Is it worth the effort of reporting it?
Trust me , this isn’t the same as sending an email to abuse@hotwebsites-r-us.cn and hoping that something will happen – this is the real deal – Your submission goes into the Phishing database, people are invited to check your submission and vote on it (for or against) and (assuming it’s approved) one more scam website is defeated!
Once you’ve done it once, you might like to signup and join the band of selfless individuals who monitor, verify and discuss these things (look out for ’scamdex’!).
Good for your sense of moral outrage and good for the general public – help stamp out Phishing – go to Phishtank.com and sign up NOW!