Most people know that giving this information away on the Internet is a no-no.

This week, IMail Server’s real-time spam stats from Commtouch are showing that eBay and its subsidiary PayPal are the most targeted brand in recent phishing attacks. For those trusted eBay customers, phishers pose one of the biggest threats to doing business with this giant auction site. Fraudulent emails are mass-mailed to every email address these phishers can get their grubby hands on, so you may have seen these emails from eBay and other companies and banks that you have never even done any business with. A good indicator for shaping these emails as legitimate or fraudulent is whether or not you actually hold an account with the company that appears to be sending the email.

Some anti-spam tips to consider:

• Never follow a link that asks you to enter personal information. Always go to the legitimate website before entering information such as login or account information.

• Look for overly vague and awkward language, poor grammar usage or misspelled words. Fraudulent emails often reference vague problems dealing with “technical upgrades” or “account problems” without giving any specific information.

• Be certain the email is addressed specifically to you. Legitimate emails typically refer to you by name, and usually reference personal information that you have provided the company with.

• It is better to be safe than sorry. Trust your basic instincts about the legitimacy of an email. Always check with the company that is supposedly sending the email. Most companies have toll free telephone numbers and customer support email addresses for you to contact them with concerns such as this, so do not be afraid to use them.

• Report the email to the company that it appears to be coming from. eBay and PayPal both have email addresses to specifically target fraud. All you have to do is forward the fraudulent email to report the incident.

Follow real-time anti-spam statistics online at IMail Server’s website. (See example below.)

We hope this helps better protect your privacy and identity!