Internet Veiling Conmen, Spurs Phishing Scams

Since the Internet allowing its global users to remain anonymous, there has occurred a considerable rise in the number of e-mail scams. Tricksters (swindlers) and conmen conveniently keep themselves shielded with a strong ally, which lends them a precise level of influence and trustworthiness for their malicious schemes.

The point would appear more lucid when an analysis is done of two phishing incidents that happened recently. According to the first incident, a US resident Jeanine Foulon received an e-mail that stated - it was sent from her banking institution; consequently, she rushed to the local Chatham branch (USA).

The e-mail stated that the bank had locked her account and to unfreeze it she was required to enter personal information in a website directed by the e-mail. Foulon further said that the e-mail appeared very real, as reported by Chathamdailynews on November 25, 2009.

The message arrived in Foulon's work e-mail, which alarmed her as she never did online banking from that account, Foulon further said.

However, the bank informed her that the e-mail was fraudulent and part of a phishing scam.

The other phishing incident targeted Public Information Officer 'Const. Michael Pearce' of Canada's Chatham-Kent Police Service with a similar fraudulent e-mail that also arrived in his work address.

Pearce said that the message appeared completely legitimate, but he did not rule out the possibility that it could be a scam, as reported by Ifpress on November 26, 2009.

With the rising number of abovementioned cases, phishing attacks rose sharply 200% during May-September 2009, according to the latest report by the X-Force research team of IBM.

Meanwhile, consumers can avoid such scams by using different passwords for different accounts and by rotating or changing the passwords regularly, security specialists suggest. These precautionary measures would mean that in case anyone steals a user's password, it will be of no use to him when the user resets it next.

Finally, specialists recommend the use of up-to-date security software and phishing filters that would ward off malware like keyloggers or any other program that could endanger a user's security and privacy.

Related article: Internet Threat Volumes Overwhelm Security Companies

» SPAMfighter News - 12/5/2009