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New Phishing Campaign Spoofs LyondellBasell

LyondellBasell, a petrochemical, polymer and fuel company, has discovered that several phishing e-mails are moving across the Internet in the name of Lyondell Chemical and LyondellBasell brands.

The company authorities said that a fraudulent e-mail message claims that Lyondell Chemical is searching for payment brokers who would be compensated for getting payments from the company's clients and customers as representatives. The message mentions a salary for the potential broker and asks the recipient to provide personal information to the sender, an affiliate to the Lyondell Company.

Besides, another fraudulent e-mail states that the recipient would receive benefits from the non-existent LYOEFA (Lyondell Chemical Online Endowment Fund Award). The e-mail carries the signature of an ex-employee of Lyondell Company and asks the recipient to reply with further personal information.

Nevertheless, a statement given by the company says that LyondellBasell and its subsidiaries, including Lyondell Chemical Company, have no association with these e-mails, programs or letters, as reported by Polimerica on September 24, 2008.

Also, the company states that it does not advertise for recruitment through e-mails to personal accounts, and that it would never ask anyone for their private information over e-mail. It also noted that its name was being illegally used and so the company was investigating into the matter.

Meanwhile, the security professionals say that the purpose of the phishers sending the e-mails is to capture financial and personal information from their victims. And in order to make the e-mails appear legitimate, these fraudulent messages contain the company's logos, pictures, names of its top officials, and/or other references of the company.

Furthermore, LyondellBasell has recommended to people receiving the e-mails to treat the messages with prudence and do not send any personal details as a reply to them.

Also, it has asked people receiving the e-mails to immediately stop communicating with the sender if they have already responded to any of the e-mails. Additionally, they should get in touch with their area and/or federal officials on how to deal with the situation, as reported by PRW on September 24, 2008.

Related article: New Zealand Releases Code To Reduce Spam

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