How to identify phishing and pharming
If you suspect that a mail from your bank, PayPal or EBay (to name some of the more common vehicles for these activities) may not be the genuine article, you can check at antiphishing.org or, of course, report a suspected phishing or pharming attempt. The website also provides a good definition of both terms, if you aren’t sure exactly what they mean:
Phishing attacks use both social engineering and technical subterfuge to steal consumers’ personal identity data and financial account credentials. Social-engineering schemes use ‘spoofed’ e-mails to lead consumers to counterfeit websites designed to trick recipients into divulging financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords and social security numbers. Hijacking brand names of banks, e-retailers and credit card companies, phishers often convince recipients to respond. Technical subterfuge schemes plant crimeware onto PCs to steal credentials directly, often using Trojan keylogger spyware. Pharming crimeware misdirects users to fraudulent sites or proxy servers, typically through DNS hijacking or poisoning.