Well you can never be sure just by looking at the URl http vs https. An italian bank was hacked very recently and was using HTTPS.

http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2008/01/08/italian_banks_xss_opportunity_seized_by_fraudsters.html

So how you can be sure that the site is genuine? Very first thing you can do is NEVER EVER click on links you get in an email. Even if the link is genuine, under the hood it might sent you to a hacker's server before redirecting you to the genuine server. If you see HTTP URL in most browsers you should be able to see a padlock icon with the lock indicating it's "locked". If you click on lock, it'll bring up a dialog box which will show the site's credentials. As to who the certificate provider is, when was it issued, when will expire etc. If the certificate can't be trusted by browser, browser will popup a dialog complaining about problem with the certificate. You SHOULD NOT choose OK if you think that the certificate is being spoofed.

Sorry there is no foolproof way of getting away from phishing scams. So what you can do?
1. Use GMAIL, GMail can recognize phising email.
2. NEVER EVER click on links in email.
3. Browse using safe browsers such as Firefox, Safari.
4. Disable JavaScript in browsers. Yes most of the sites will not work but you will be better off without JavaScript.

Here's a good article you can read.

http://www.scambusters.org/phishing.html

when u say not to click ny links in e-mails....does dat apply only to links by unknown mails or even friends.For example if a friend send a greeting card....we shud NOT click to it?

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Originally posted by dubaicanadian

when u say not to click ny links in e-mails....does dat apply only to links by unknown mails or even friends.For example if a friend send a greeting card....we shud NOT click to it?

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