Two Different Phishing Scams Hit US

Security experts have cautioned people to ignore two different phishing e-mail scams which are in circulation in different parts of the US.

In the first case, police department of The Egg Harbor Township (New Jersey, US) is cautioning residents of a latest online scam that comes as a mail that seems to instigate from Bank of America.

The e-mail says that the bank is looking for information to fix a security problem, like illegal use of credit card, with the account of the e-mail recipient. The e-mail asks for authentic and private account details.

The mail seems legitimate and can even have the logo of Bank of America.

But The Egg Harbor Township Police Department is suggesting the public not to reply to this mail. Police caution that revealing the personal and account details asked for will put user's identity and bank accounts at jeopardy for fraud.

Police advised that if people have any qualms about their accounts or the validity of e-mail notices, then they should contact a bank representative personally or call him by using the authentic customer service numbers that are given on the bank statement or on the rear of their credit card.

In another case, phishing e-mails associated with Mega Millions lottery are hitting the inboxes of the residents of Hampton Roads, Virginia (USA). The e-mail in this case congratulates the recipient and informs him that his e-mail address is among the selected winners of a jackpot amount of $520,000.00. The recipients are, thus, asked to give required details in order to file their claim and to e-mail that to their fiduciary agent to get their payment processed immediately.

But as per the officials of Mega Millions Lottery, website criminals are imitating and pasting this message from their site and sending it through e-mail, trying to deceive people into divulging their confidential details. The message gives the e-mail address of an alleged United Kingdom Fiduciary Agent. It also displays pictures of genuine winners of Mega Millions lottery.
Here is it important to note that phishing e-mails are rising rather declining in the recent times. As per IBM's X-Force research team, phishing attacks unexpectedly spiked by 200% during May-September 2009.

Related article: THE SPAM MAFIA

» SPAMfighter News - 11/16/2009