1. Discuss two recommendations for how consumers might protect themselves from such Internet scams.
2. Phishing scams also victimize businesses. Visit the Federal Trade Commission’s Web site (www.ftc.gov) to learn how businesses can deal with this problem and discuss recommendations for marketers who face this threat.
Have you ever gone phishing? Probably not, but the Internet enables unscrupulous individuals to “phish” for your personal information. This and other types of attacks aimed at stealing your identity or your money are called “social engineering.” Social engineering is a remake of an old-fashioned con game that tricks people into giving information and then uses it to rob them. You might receive an e-mail, supposedly from PayPal, Amazon . com, or your bank, asking you to update your personal information. To make it easier for you, says the message, just click on the link in the e-mail to input your information. Don’t do it! The click will take you to a site that looks legitimate but is really a skillfully designed fake, often located in another country. Even if you don’t enter any personal information, just clicking on the link might put software on your computer that can track your keystrokes, revealing login and password information to the crooks.