FDIC- Another Victim of Phishing Scam

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) alerts the users about the fake e-mail claiming to be coming from the FDIC itself.

According to the FDIC, in the first week of October 2008, scammers distributed some fraudulent phishing e-mails that informed the recipients that earnings raised from identity thefts have been transferred to their bank accounts. The recipients were then asked to click open the attached copy of their account statements and contact their bank managers after reviewing the files.

The false e-mail carries the subject, "Funds wired into your account are stolen." Recipients of such e-mails are being advised by the FDIC to avoid clicking or opening the file attached along with the mail as it is an executable file having malicious code or some dangerous software. It may collect the recipients' online banking records and other important information.

Further, the scammers exploit such confidential information like username and password to filch the users' identity or to gain access to their money in their bank accounts. So, one must be vigilant enough while responding to such e-mails that appear to be sent by some financial institution and asking for the personal information of the user (particularly if that institution already has the desired information).

As per the security experts, the phishing scammers are continuously looking for new victims, taking advantage of the global financial crisis and the dissolving funds of the Americans.

The FDIC reported that however, the antivirus software are able to sense and remove the malevolent attachments before sending the e-mail, some of them are still flooding the inboxes. But in case the recipient opens the malicious attachment, FDIC recommends the updation of the antivirus software and carrying out the complete scanning of the PC and network.

Further, if the PC gets infected and user is facing trouble in eradicating such malicious codes, then he should contact the antivirus software dealer, as per the security experts.

Related article: FTC Reaches Million-Dollar Settlement For Spyware

» SPAMfighter News - 10/16/2008