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Richard Piatt Reporting Phishing, the e-mail scam that keeps growing, is turning out to be a complex problem for the Utah Legislature. In fact, several lawmakers today admitted they're not sure how to deal with it.
It starts with an email that looks real. It could be from a bank, eBay, your credit union, or most recently MySpace. But the site doesn't have anything to do with those familiar businesses. For one thing, the email usually encourages you to click on a link that the legitimate site doesn't have. If you do link to it, the web address is long and complex, and again has nothing to do with the legitimate site.
The site will try to get you to enter personal information: account or credit card number, password, even social security number. What happens next could be inconvenient or it could lead to financial ruin.
Utah Legislation passed this year to crack down on phishing hasn't resulted in one conviction so far.
Rep. Brad Daw, (R) Orem: "As a legislator, what do I do? We've tried at the prosecution route, and we will continue to pursue that, but we've got to find other ways to shut these people down."
Utah's XMission is just one internet provider fighting a problem this system administrator calls one of the most frustrating challenges in the business right now. The task of filtering billions of emails leaves a problem that can't be just left to technology.
Mike Place, XMission System Administrator: "Fighting spam feels like fighting a fire with a teacup, only you're the one on fire, and the teacup is filled with gunpowder."
It looks like the best solution is prevention, letting people know about phishing so it stops being a profitable, crooked business. The problem is the websites are very convincing and potential victims are plentiful.
