Phishing E-mails Purport to be From St. George Bank

Security researchers have recently warned people about a fresh phishing scam that involves e-mails claiming to be messages from Australia-based St. George Bank.

The e-mails state several things in a way to entice probable victims into clicking on links provided within the messages. A few of them state there is an urgent missive for the online banking customer. Some state that St. George has locked the online banking facility because there have been too many unsuccessful attempts to login or there have been doubtful fraudulent transactions.

Furthermore, many other said since authorities have found errors in the system or made procedural changes, it is necessary to update the online banking information of the customer. However, all forms of the messages contain web-links leading to fake websites that look just like the actual website of St. George Bank.

All the messages bear the signature of 'Besa Deda' who is the reputed economist-in-chief at the bank, as reported by Guardian on June 20, 2009.

In addition, the phishing e-mails contain supposedly authentic copyright notices and logos of St. George Bank to make the messages appear legitimate. A lot of the fraudulent messages are literally the same as the previous messages that reportedly hit the Commonwealth Bank except that the scammers replaced the Commonwealth Bank copyright notices and logos with those of St. George.

The security researchers said customers who unwittingly click on the given web-links and visit the phony sites might be requested for their other sensitive details like employment and credit card information.

Using the scam e-mails, the criminals behind them manage to harvest all the personal details the victimized customer provides on the fraudulent site like username and password for his online banking. The scammers could use these details to actually access the victim's account at St. George to make illegal transactions and steal money.

Thus, the researchers have alerted Internet users to exercise caution against unsolicited e-mails which ask for the latter's online account credentials or other confidential information since similar to any legal financial institution, St. George Bank does not request customers for personal information via e-mail.

» SPAMfighter News - 30-06-2009

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