AP&T Issues Alert to Online Customers About Phishing E-Mail

Recently some customers of AP&T (Alameda Power & Telecom), who were availing AlamedaNET services of the company, have got an e-mail message that claims to be from AP&T but is a phishing e-mail, as reported by AlamedaSun on September 18, 2008.

Further, the fraudulent e-mail targeted at AP&T customers asks the recipient to verify account information by providing his/her date-of-birth and e-mail password. Moreover, to make e-mail appears more legitimate, it includes a link apparently pointing to a genuine Website of AP&T, but in reality leads to a fake scam site.

AP&T states that the fake e-mail pretends to upgrade e-mail account and customer database. It also says that the company is currently deactivating all accounts not in use so that more space could be created for fresh accounts. The e-mail then says that to prevent the recipient's account from being terminated, he/she needs to update his/her account by following the details given underneath.

Moreover, AP&T says that the current online scammers are employing more and more sophisticated lures while they phish off private information from the users. The most commonly used trick is to mimic the appearance of an Internet page of a major Website and use its design to create an almost identical page of the company's Website, discloses AP&T.

Furthermore, spam now costs in millions, as online users pay the price to the spammers who spoof their victims. According to the Messaging Division of Ipswitch, a leading developer of messaging software, a survey that it conducted found that with about 14.5 Million spam messages produced globally every day, spam accounts for nearly 87% of the global e-mails. Further, as per predictions, a monstrous 58 Billion junk message would go out over the coming four years that would cost companies about $198 Billion per annum.

Meanwhile, AP&T have alerted that this e-mail is not genuine and do not deserve any response. The company also said that it never solicits account passwords or personal information via e-mail. Also, apart from AP&T, the brand names of online giants like eBay, PayPal, YouTube and some major financial institutions and banks have been exploited to entice the unsuspecting.

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» SPAMfighter News - 9/25/2008