Reporting Phishing emails

[spizotfl]

Hi all, I have seen where Amazon, eBay, Paypal, and most banks have email accounts where you can forward phishing emails that you receive. I was wondering if there is really any value in this to them, or is it something to make end users feel like they are helping.
Thanks for any insight....

"Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything."
-Vonnegut

 

[2ffat]

Here's my 10 (two binary) bits. I think it really depends on the company, how viable a threat it is to them, and if you (or they) have lost a lot of money as a result. I also think the more complaints a company or government entity gets, the more likely they are to take it seriously.

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission has set up OnGuard Online to help with frauds like phishing (see this link for example). The more complaints, the more information they (government or companies) can collect. Eventually, either enough evidence or enough complaints will cause them to do something.



James P. Cottingham
[sup]I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229![/sup]

 

[goombawaho]

Funny - when I reported a bank phishing site once, they basically sent me a pat on the head email back.

"Oh thank you for submitting this, you won't hear back from us, but thank you................."

To me, all these scams are just to be ignored and deleted and not reported. There's a million more where there's one.