Customers may take a number of steps to avoid becoming a victim of a phishing attack that involves inspecting content that is presented to them and questioning its authenticity.

General Vigilance includes:

*If you get an email that warns you, with little or no notice, that an account of yours will be shut down unless you reconfirm billing information, do not reply or click on the link in the email.  Instead, contact the company cited in the email using a telephone number or Website address you know to be genuine.

*Never respond to HTML email with embedded submission forms.  Any information submitted via the email (even if it is legitimate) will be sent in clear text and could be observed.

*Avoid emailing personal and financial information.  Before submitting financial information through a Website, look for the "lock" icon on the browser's status bar.  It signals that your information is secure during transmission.

*For sites that indicate they are secure, review the SSL certificate that has been received and ensure that it has been issued by a trusted certificate authority.  SSL certificate information can be obtained by double-clicking on the "lock" icon at the bottom of the browser, or by right-clicking on a page and selecting properties.

*Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to determine whether there are any unauthorized charges.  If your statement is late by more than a couple of days, call your credit card company or bank to confirm your billing address and account balances.