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Another Phishing Scam Against EPPICard Users But This Time in Florida

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has got reports of phishing attacks that are targeting users of EPPICards in Florida. An EPPICard, which works in the same manner as a debit card does, is meant to receive child-welfare payment and it is issued by a state agency, as reported by my FOX on June 20, 2008.

Reports coming to news agencies indicated that people, holding an EPPICard, reported of receiving an e-mail that communicates about a problem with their e-mail accounts. The recipients said that the message instructed them to click on a link claiming that it was for verifying their account details or for rectifying the problem. But, when they clicked on the link, it actually landed them on a fake Website that compromised their private information like PIN and account numbers.

Many people in Florida also reported that they got an e-mail requesting them to fill out an online form for a survey. But at the bottom of the form, the respondents were asked to provide their EPPICard account details to enable crediting funds as a gesture of appreciation for their participation in the poll. Naturally, by providing these details, the criminals would be able to compromise the users' accounts, say security experts.

However, EPPICard has issued a warning on its official site that the e-mail and the included survey is part of a scam and it never asks its customers for their card or private information over e-mail, phone text messages or telephone calls.

Reacting to these kinds of fake e-mail surveys or messages, Better Business Bureau (BBB) also asks customers to exercise caution against the missives. Thus, it advises users to avoid opening e-mails arriving from unknown people because they might contain malicious software like viruses. It also tells them to restrain from clicking e-mail links from unknown sources as they might direct the user to phishing Website.

In a similar news, a phishing attack in the end-week of May 2008 hit Pennsylvania, another US State that issues EPPICards. In that, phishing e-mails, traced to Romania, had reached EPPICard users who received unemployment compensation and child-welfare payment benefits in Pennsylvania.

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