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Kentucky State Police Issued Warning of E-mail Scam

Kentucky State Police (US) issued a warning about an e-mail scam targeting the inboxes of local people, as reported by tristatehomepage on December 8, 2008.

According to the reports received by the Kentucky State Police, local people are receiving an e-mail purporting to have come from Commerce Bank (US). The e-mail seems authentic as it contains official header of the company along with FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) logo under the bank name.

Investigations into the case have revealed that the message in the e-mail informs the recipients about updating their account information on the pretext that the given information will be used to protect them from frauds.

Investigators have disclosed that the e-mail contains a link at the end of the message where the recipient is asked to give his personal information. Investigators also said that the e-mail sender has given a warning in the message about suspension of the account permanently if the required information is not submitted by the recipient.

Security experts have called the current e-mail scam as a phishing scam. Typically, phishing e-mails are crafted by taking the official logo and other identifiable information of the targeted company or organization. The identifiable information of the company is drawn from its websites, while the personal information of the recipient is stolen from the social networking websites to make the e-mail look legitimate.

Another fundamental feature of all phishing e-mails is that they ask for the personal information of the recipient as in the present case, where the recipient's personal information has been sought.

Meanwhile, Kentucky State Police said to local people that they can protect themselves from becoming victim of the scam by deleting any mail claiming to represent Commerce Bank, or any other such dubious e-mail.

The police have also asked netizens to avoid replying to any e-mail that looks for personal information, particularly name, social security number and account number. At the same time, the police have informed people that banks don't ask for personal information through e-mails. Netizens who have replied to the message should communication with the concerned authorities to minimize chances of falling prey to identity theft.

Related article: Kentucky’s Commonwealth Credit Union Members Become Targets of Hoax E-Mail

» SPAMfighter News - 12/25/2008

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