Generally speaking, people become victims of phishing scams simply because they do not know how such scams operate. You can help by ensuring that friends and colleagues are aware of such scams and what to do about them. You might like to point them to this web page or another resource that provides information about [...]

Department of Finance Phishing Scam
Summary:
Scam email purporting to be from Canada’s Department of Finance claims that the
recipient is eligible for a tax refund
 
Status:
False - the email is an attempt to steal personal information.
Example:(Submitted, January 2007) From:
Department of Finance
Subject: Notification - Please Read This.
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined
that you [...]

If you receive any unsolicited email from a bank or other institution that asks you to click an included hyperlink and provide sensitive personal information, then you should view the message with the utmost suspicion. If you have any doubts at all about the veracity of the email, contact the institution directly to check.
Never click [...]

If you have already submitted information to scammers as a result of a phishing scam, you need to contact the targeted institution for advice immediately. It is imperative that you act quickly to protect the account that has been compromised in the phishing attack.
For more comprehensive information about what to do, click the link below:
Consumer [...]

DO NOT click on any links in the scam email.
DO NOT supply any personal information of any kind as a result of the email
DO NOT reply to the email or attempt to contact the senders in any way.
DO NOT supply any information on the bogus website that may appear in your browser if you have [...]

If you have received a phishing scam, you can report it to The Anti-Phishing Working Group via the link below.
Anti-Phishing Working Group: Report Phishing
You may also be able to report phishing scams to the targeted institution. Contact the targeted institution to find out where to submit copies of the scam messages. This information is often [...]

Unsolicited requests for sensitive information
The entire purpose of a typical phishing scam email is to get the recipient to provide personal information. If you receive any unsolicited email ostensibly from a bank or other institution that asks you to click a link and provide sensitive personal information, then you should view the message with the [...]

Scammers are able to use information stolen from victims in a variety of ways. They may:

Take over the victim’s account.
After the scammers have harvested information such as passwords, user names and account numbers, they are able to directly access the victim’s account. They can then transfer funds to other accounts, conduct transactions, issue cheques in [...]

Phishing scams attempt to trick people into providing sensitive personal information such as credit card or banking details. In order to carry out this trick, the phishing scammers send a fraudulent email disguised as an official request for information from the targeted company. Generally, they also create a “look-a-like” website that is designed to closely [...]