General discussion
Cybercriminals take advantage of global financial crisis
Qua 29 Out 2008 15:00:35 UTC — Deborah S.We are reading report after report that Internet criminals are profiting from the global financial crisis. Using social engineering and spear-phishing attacks, they are targeting fearful individuals as well as client-side attacks against understandably anxious bank employees.
Check your inbox - you may have received a phishing email that pretends to be from recently-acquired banks. A number of security experts have released data that confirms that in recent weeks cybercriminals have been sending out an increased number of phishing and spam messages, trying to con individuals into revealing their private banking information.
Have you received any of these messages? Please share them with us. Also, if you find any articles relevant to this discussion, please include the link.
Here's one for you to read.
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Cybercrime wave hits the UK
Qui 30 Out 2008 08:00:35 UTC — Deborah S.A new report from a UK security company expects a rise in overall cybercrime with people resorting to illegal activities as the economic climate worsens.
Got one recently from American Express
Qui 30 Out 2008 10:02:49 UTC — BobJamYes, Deborah, I did get a phishing scam recently from American Express. But I don't think it was connected to any recently-acquired banks. Nevertheless, it may very well have been prompted by the global financial crisis you were talking about.
Here is the text of the thing:
"
Reference Number: 20080508578530Dear American Express Card holder:
As part of the new security measures, all American Express Card holders are required to complete American Express Customer Form. Please complete the form as soon as possible.
To access the form please click on the following link:
http://www.americanexpress.com/myca/form/serverstack/action?request_type...
Thank you for using your American Express Card.
Sincerely,
American Express Customer Service
Please do not reply to this e-mail. This Customer service e-mail was sent to you by American Express. You may receive customer service e-mails even if you have unsubscribed from marketing e-mails from American Express.
© 2008 American Express Company. All rights reserved.
BTW, that reference number is NOT my account number. And this malicious email was probably a BOT because it was addressed to "rb@XXXXXX.com" only, and my email name (before the AT symbol) is actually longer but begins with "rb".
I also noticed in the preview to this post that the bogus link shows a green rating by WOT. I haven't clicked on it (may do so with my browser and email client in a sandbox, and I certainly wouldn't fill out any form), but I would have thought it would show less than green.
Why not Green..?
Qui 30 Out 2008 10:12:27 UTC — phantazmMaybe the link is green because it links to the real www.americanexpress.com?
The underlying link was probably different, and red, but didn't survive copying...
You're right
Sex 31 Out 2008 05:04:40 UTC — BobJamI took a look at the source code, and the actual link is different and rated red.
I was going to post it, but I don't want to put a red link up here. (Don't want to give T3KK a reason to accuse WOT of promoting criminal activity . . . though if I posted it, the "promoter" would actually be me and not WOT . . . no sarcasm intended there, just don't want to have this thread devolve into one of those lengthy pointless arguments we had on the "No more Mr. Nice WOT" thread).
Anyway, the souce code link is red.
Cybercrime and emails
Sáb 01 Nov 2008 18:49:46 UTC — muse56I have received some of those types of emails, however, I use a program (which I am not sure I can mention here) where you can read your emails before they are downloaded to your server and the program can tell you if it is possible spam, a virus, etc.
It is very helpful!
You can also just get rid of what you don't want going to your inbox.
Thunderbird nicely
Dom 02 Nov 2008 09:41:55 UTC — BobJamThunderbird nicely identifies these as possible phishing scams, though I myself can spot them a mile away anyhow.
Bottom line, the rule here is NOT to click on any links in these things, or ANY email from a financial institution for that matter, that requests account or personal info. If a financial institution really needs any info, they will call you on the phone and then you can verify they are who they say they are with simple questions like "What is my account number?" or better yet, "What is my SS number?". If they don't know, don't give it to them and hang up.
But I actually like collecting these things and trying to interpret the headers to see if they are from offshore sites . . . which they usually are. Though these guys go through so many servers that it's pretty much impossible to track them down. And there's also anonymous proxies that they can use.
In any case, as perverse as it may sound, I actually like to get these things, and wouldn't want to block or filter them.
By the way, I also use an email previewer, Pop Peep, but it's mostly so that I can see and delete those emails with large graphics attachments that are those nonsense forwarded "jokes" that I hate to get.
general discussion
Dom 02 Nov 2008 11:16:22 UTC — cod headjust been on the bbc website.it is stating it expects cyber crime in the u.k.to soar this year due to the financial crisis.at least with wot and people reviewing sites before you enter them it should give us members a better chance of not encountering the realy bad sites.even so its allways better to be on your guard at all times and if you come accross something that seems to good to be true.it probabley is.
general discussion
Dom 02 Nov 2008 23:12:11 UTC — WoWzerSo sad my WOT's not working ... :-(
Financial phishing video
Seg 10 Nov 2008 08:28:48 UTC — Deborah S.We made a new video explaining how cybercriminals are taking advantage of nervous consumers by sending fake emails with a financial theme. The emails look authentic and easily fool people into giving up their personal and financial information. Please share this with users who may not be familiar with phishing.
Watch the financial phishing video.