Phishing Phishing is the name for attempts to capture personal information electronically by masquerading as a trustworthy source. Phishing ties into criminal activity like stealing money and identity theft. The most common phishing attempts are to send spam emails. The perpetrators do everything they can to make the message appear legitimate. They'll ask for personal information, like to reset a password or to verify a credit card number. Another devious techniques is to infect a computer with a virus that redirects the user to a fraudulent web site. Even though the user types in the correct address, they get redirected to a fake web site posing as the real one. This sub-category of phishing is called "pharming". What Can You Do? If you ever have a question or suspicion that is FAIRWINDS Credit Union related, you can ask us. Call us or send an email. Use spam, virus, and anti-spyware software protection. The virus protection will prevent a malicious program. The spam protection will block phishing emails. Become familiar with the official website addresses of your financial institutions. If the web address is unfamiliar, call the financial institution to verify the legitimacy of the site. We will NEVER send unsolicited emails or make unsolicited phone calls requesting your personal or account information. If you ever receive such a request purporting to be from us, do not provide any personal information.