FBI Raises Alarm of New E-mail Phishing Scams in South Carolina

According to a news released by islandpocket.com on August 25, 2009, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned people of South Carolina localities against e-mail phishing scams.

New reports about the phishing scams have revealed that criminals are targeting students as well as college faculty statewide by sending scam e-mails, encouraging them to send reply to phishing e-mails.

It is said that the content of ongoing phishing e-mail scam ask for user ID and password to repair a server.

David Thomas, Special Agent of the FBI in South Carolina, said that handing over password and username to spammers might lead to the generation of large volume of junk e-mails and shut down of victim's account, as reported by islandpacket on August 25, 2009.

Citing this e-mail scam as an example, Thomas has said that the victims of ongoing e-mail scam could not access their accounts at Yahoo, AOL (American Online) and other providers.

Hence, Thomas has advised victims that they should change their password, get in touch with the school and register a complain with the FBI at its website - www.ic3.gov.

Spam-based phishing attacks on university students have become a common practice now-a-days. A typical content in the e-mail creates panic among students as well as faculty who are forced to send reply to unsolicited scam e-mails without checking their authenticity.

The FBI has taken some measure at its own end of educating people to avoid sending reply to phishing e-mails. E-mails recipients have also been warned against opening links embedded in such kinds of e-mails.

E-mail recipients are also advised to forward the e-mails to the FBI so that the agency could investigate and nab perpetrators, including phishers and spammers, linked with the scam.

Apart from FBI, security experts have advised e-mail account holders to update their spam filters and other online security programs installed on their system so that such notorious e-mails could be blocked from entering inboxes. They have recommended that computer users at both colleges and schools increase their awareness about different types of scams.

Related article: FBI’s ICCC Annual Report Discusses Fraudulent and Non-Fraudulent Complaints

» SPAMfighter News - 9/7/2009