Phishing (#194, Topic M)

A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail, purported to be from the Internal Revenue Service, stating that, based on its calculation, there is a refund of $60+ waiting for me. All I need to do was to click on a link provided -- which, were I to click it, would, undoubtedly, ask for my address and social security number. Smart and innovative -- but, as applied to me, unworkable. Why so? Simple. I am ashamed to admit it, but I have yet to file our income tax return for 2005 -- how could I get a refund when the tax return on which it is based is not yet in? (I still have 12 days to do it, ha, ha, ha.) The first time I received a phishing e-mail was probably 2 or 3 years ago, purported to be from Best Buy, wanting to verify my SSN regarding a TV I had bought. At first I was puzzled, since I did not buy one. Then, I remembered that, a week or so earlier, shopping for a TV for our condo at the beach, I wrote an e-mail to Best Buy asking if it had a store near our condo and, if so, whether it could deliver to our unit. At that time, phishing was probably very new. When I went to a Best Buy store to inquire, the store personnel were rather excited. They had received similar inquiries, had taken actions to delete the offensive links, and asked me not to click to them, which I dutifully complied. The most sophisticated phishing I have received so far was also the most recent. On the internet, someone was offering a free laptop; all one needed to do was to go through a few webpages. Curious, I clicked to the website. It asked for my address. Fair enough. How could one ship a laptop without an address? No social security number. Nice, nothing to worry. To qualify for the $2,500 laptop, one does have to spend some money -- buy two items from about a dozen listed. The first item is a package of potato chips -- a mere dollar or two; the second item has a similar cost. By that time, I began to wonder. What's the gimmick? A thought occurred to me -- the laptop is prewired; as soon as one uses it, every key stroke (such as one's SSN) would be relayed to the generous donor. Truly smart and innovative. But, again, I was not a good candidate. I clicked onto that website out of curiosity; I knew I would not want the laptop being offered. Why? Two reasons. One, I already have a laptop. One is all I need. Two, the laptop has a Japanese brand name -- I do not want to own anything Japanese.