2026 General Financial Literacy State Practice Test – Complete Exam Prep

Pharming is a form of online fraud where you end up at a fraudulent website even though you entered the correct address. This happens by tampering with the system that translates website names into numeric addresses (the DNS) or by malware on your own device that changes how those addresses are resolved. The result is that your browser is redirected to a fake site that looks real and is designed to steal login details or financial information. This differs from phishing, which relies on tricking you with a deceptive email or message to click a link and reveal information; pharming makes the redirection happen automatically, so you may not even realize you’ve left the legitimate site. Spoofing is about disguising something to appear legitimate, which can be part of a pharming scenario but doesn’t by itself describe the underlying redirection. A data breach, on the other hand, is about unauthorized access to data within a system rather than directing you to a fake site. To protect yourself, verify URLs carefully, look for HTTPS with a valid certificate, use trusted bookmarks for important sites, keep devices secure, and consider DNS security features or reputable security software.