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Phishing Scam Targeting Walmart Customers

Janet T. Mills Attorney General issued an alert on January 30, 2009 to caution consumers about a phony survey ran by the e-mail scammers pretending to be from Walmart, an international retailer, as reported by Maine News on January 30, 2009.

To make consumers into disclosing their private financial information such as their debit and credit card numbers, the survey promises that 150 dollars will be credited into their account.

Mills further said that e-mail scams unjustly victimized both businesses and consumers. According to her, consumers should avoid e-mails that request for their private financial details, even if their senders appear to be a business from where they shopped or is from a reputable retailer. These e-mails clearly try to capture the user's identity to manipulate his debit and credit cards, or sometimes even create a new card in the user's name.

In fact, as a way to safeguard people from such scam e-mails that intermittently shakes Walmart, the retailer has introduced a segment on its website calls, "Things to Keep in Mind About E-mail Forgery". This segment outlines certain facts which users could refer to while determining whether any phishing scam has caught them off guard.

Walmart states that the phishing e-mails might display a genuine e-mail ID such as help@walmart.com in the "From" space to make the message seem legitimate.

Another clue that helps in identifying the hoax e-mail is the message would start with the common greeting "Dear Customer", says Walmart. The greeting would be non-specific, as the scammers don't know the recipient's name.

Walmart also discloses that while legitimate e-mails may contain links, these links could be forged. According to the retailer, one method for recognizing a fake link is to move one's mouse up and down over it. Moreover, most e-mail programs show the actual location of a web-link inside a tiny bubble that appears on the reading box's bottom end or as a pop-up on the window, yet another mode of recognizing phishing e-mail.

Related article: Phishing With A Redirector Code

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