Phishers Attack Grundy Bank Customers, But Attempts Have Been Quelled

A potential online phishing scam targeting customers of Grundy National Bank of Iowa, United States, has been quelled, bank authorities stated.

Phishing is a practice of attracting innocent Internet users to visit a bogus website by use of genuine-looking e-mails with the logo of the legitimate organization. It is a technique to steal passwords, financial and other sensitive personal information from the end-users.

In the GNB case, a similar phishing e-mail was sent asking recipients to visit a phony website that appeared like the real GNB site. At this phony site, the users were asked to enter personal details like full name, PIN and account number.

Moreover, using the subject- "new alert message", the e-mail instructed the user to access a look-alike website of the bank. However, officials of GNB quickly pointed out that the message was fraudulent.

Keely Harken, Marketing Officer, GNB, said that the e-mail is part of a phishing scam that is using the bank's name deceitfully, as reported by WCFCOURIER on January 22, 2009. Keely Harken also said that several phone calls from frightened customers came to the bank on January 20, 2009, and the institution had acted to shut down the fraudulent site.

Shazam Inc. (located in Des Moines) said that the scam represented the No.2 fraud case during the past several months. Shazam Inc. issues payment cards, particularly debit cards as an agent of GNB and several other financial institutions all over the Midwest. Shazam Inc, the problem of online phishing has increased all over the world, and is now equally frequent in Iowa as anywhere else.

Meanwhile, the bank stated that it would never collect information of this kind from its customers. It warned users that criminals use phishing techniques to gain access to account information for stealing money.

The bank also suggested accountholders not to click on a link inside an e-mail claiming it is from a business or financial institution. Accountholders also make sure that they do not give out their account data or identity in response of any e-mail.

Related article: Phishers Expand Their Sphere of Attacks

» SPAMfighter News - 2/7/2009