When you have an email account on the Internet you will probably receive some phishing emails. Phishing emails are sent by people that are after your private personal information.

There are many different ways these emails are sent out. They could appear to come from your banking institution or any other major company you do business with. There will usually be a link that they say you will have to click on because there are issues with your account. When you click the link you will then be asked to verify your information by entering it into the site.

The emails might look like they came from a member at your job. In other words like someone in the IT or HR department sent the email to several coworkers at the same time. By doing the phishing this way it would not throw any red flags so you would doubt who it was coming from.

Some emails will say there is a problem with your account and will ask you to call customer service. They will then supply you with a phone number for you to call. When you call you might get a voice or you might get a recording. Either way you will be asked to speak clearly and give your information so they can verify your account.

Some sites like eBay and PayPal are known for phishing emails being sent out. If you are signed up with either one then the odds are someone will send you an email in hopes of getting your information. The way to tell you received a fake email from these companies is the email will not say your actual name. It will say something like dear eBay user. If you receive an email like that then know it is someone after your personal information.  

The one thing you should always be aware of is when you are dealing with a business they will not send you an email asking you to verify your password, user name, social security number etc.

If you receive an email you are not sure of the best thing you can do is look up the actual phone number of the business. Then tell them about the email and see if it actually came from them. If they did not send the email they will let you know immediately. 

If you want to know who the sender of the email is then you could do an email address search. This can be conducted on many different websites on the Internet. These services are offered to the public for them to use.

If the email came from Hotmail or even Yahoo then you could go to their website and use their email directory. This will also help you to locate any information about the person that is responsible for sending you the phishing email.

Once you have factual information about the sender you should file a report. The report will get the email address shut down and the person could be charged with a crime.

Donald Zens lives in South Boston with his wife and their 2 sons. His PI Company has gained respect as an innovative investigative firm, and his work as a consultant and an online journalist garnered him the praise of some of the internet's top public records experts.
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