FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Someone is using your cable company to try and rip you off.  A WINK News viewer e-mailed us, telling us someone with Comcast e-mailed her and told her the credit card they had on file for her account was declined.

The e-mail looks like it comes from a Comcast e-mail address but it's a fake.  The e-mail says "Dear Comcast member" and it gives a link.  The e-mail also asks the member to update their credit card information as soon as possible.

The subject is "Services Cancellation Notice."  It gives two different bogus Comcast e-mail addresses as well.  Comcast told WINK News that phishing scams involving national brands are common.  The Lee County Sheriff's Office also told WINK News they receive this complaint consistently as well.

WINK News teamed up with Comcast to come up with steps you can take to make sure this doesn't happen to you.

The Norton Security Suite is great at keeping most phishing scams from ever hitting a subscriber's mailbox.  However, it is very important for you to educate yourself about safe practices online.  Below is some information Comcast provides customers online to help educate them about phishing scams -- http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/wireless-internet/phishing-scams/

Steps you can take to make sure you don't fall for a phishing scams:

1.     Be suspicious of any email or phone call that asks for your personal account information, such as user names, passwords, and account numbers.

2.     Be aware that Comcast will never ask you for password information over the phone or email.

3.     Comcast will never ask for billing or payment information through email.

4.     Always make sure you use a secure server when submitting credit card information. To make sure you're using a secure server, check the beginning of the web address in your browsers address bar - it should be https:// rather than just http://.

5.     Microsoft has created a security update for Internet Explorer that will help you avoid phishing scams. It removes a vulnerability that could allow an attacker to misrepresent the location of a web page in the address bar of an Internet Explorer window. We strongly urge you to download this patch if your computer has Internet Explorer installed (even if you don't use Internet Explorer as your primary web browser).   http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin

If you have an issue that you want our Call for Action team to investigate, you can e-mail us at callforaction@winktv.com or call Tuesday - Thursday from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at 1-800-795-9465.