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EppiCard Phishing Scam Targeting Residents of Mississippi

Jim Hood, the Attorney General of Mississippi, is warning that users of the electronic benefit card, which offers unemployment payments or child support, need to exercise caution. For, an e-mail scam has hit Mississippi, targeting people who receive critical payments like child support and employment.

As security experts explain, an e-mail or phishing scam is an online fraud in which spam messages or Internet pop-ups are used to steal bank account details, credit card, Social Security number and other sensitive information from online users, according to the news from the Office of the Attorney General, as reported by WLOX published on June 4, 2008.

According to the news released, if any EppiCard user has a card from the total of 143,000 electronic payment cards issued in the Mississippi state, he should be on guard for a pop-up or e-mail message directing the card user to confirm personal information.

The e-mail messages received appear to be sent by an official. The text of one such e-mail tells the recipient that on conducting a recent examination of his/her account, it was determined that certain additional information was required from the person to provide secure service, as reported by WLOX on June 4, 2008.

The spam message asks apology for causing inconvenience but asks the recipient to update his/her EPPICard account so that access to the personal account could be restored as early as possible.

Further, the message asks the user to follow a link given in the e-mail as well as furnish information by filling up a form provided on the next page of the e-mail to complete the verification process.

According to the officials, while the phishing site looks almost same as the official EPPICard site, there is a prominent difference. The true EPPICard site displays an alert that it never asks users for personal information through text messaging, over phone or via e-mail.

To further alert EPPICard benefactors, AG Jim Hood said that phishing e-mails typically have misspelled words. Even then, if the user feels that he has been victimized in the new phishing fraud, then he should contact the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General immediately.

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