Beware! We are dealing with very TARGETED email scams, or PHISHING. When the economy is tough and more people are looking for jobs, phishers are having a field day… but many are getting caught TOO!
Some Phishers who wasted a retired woman’s 1.5 million life savings on cheeseburgers, champagne and gold are now facing jail time! The target unwittingly handed over her personal details, by which the gang obtained access to her bank account and was able to siphon out her cash. One of the phishers sold the victims personal info for about $5,000 and the second gang, using a money mule, went for the clean up operation…
UK police conducted a series of coordinated raids across London and the West Midlands and subsequently arrested many of the culprits in March, April and September 2012. The search last year turned up computers with details of more than 11,000 credit cards, including those belonging to nearly 8,500 UK customers—worth about a £2.5 million ($3.8 million) hit to the banking industry.
Every month there are news of similar events. Be on the alert, and inform family and friends. Report any breach of information security or unauthorized disclosure of information or it could come back to bite your account… Don’t be a victim, be informed!
Here is how phishing works:
– A Phisher [from a pretend email] sends you an email with a link and comes up with a creative or believable story, to tricking you into clicking the link…
– You click the link and it takes you to what looks like a login screen.
– You log in using your Username and password.
– You’ve just been Phished and given someone your login information! They can now log into your account, take your money, damage your credit, etc…
How to avoid being Phished:
If you have clicked a link, and it takes you to a login page of some kind, no matter how much it looks real… DO NOT LOG INTO IT!
For more information and references, take a look at the: http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/alerts/phishing.html