Phishing E-mails Targeting Tri-City Residents

It appears that scammers are targeting residents of Tri-City (Washington, USA) by sending them phishing e-mails.

Erica Tungesvik, Police Officer of Richland, said that many residents reported about the e-mail scam in which the bank names used were Wells Fargo, HAPO and Bank of Whitman, according to the statement published by tri-cityherald.com published April 1, 2010.

Tungesvik continued that several people who received the phishing e-mail had no account at the banks the scammers mentioned. She described the scammers' activities as somehow to make innocent people reply to the e-mails by inciting in them, worry regarding personal bank accounts.

The Officer said that scammers aimed at inducing users to provide every detail of their bank account, which they would abuse later to steal huge amounts of money.

Meanwhile, one resident of Pasco (Tri-City, Washington) whom the scammers victimized narrated his experience. He said that an e-mail reached his inbox regarding his account with Bank of Whitman. The message stated that he must update his account information, requiring just 5-10 minutes, for security purpose. With that, the e-mail even threatened that the recipient's bank account would stand terminated in case he didn't update the requested information.

Significantly, authorities recommend that any person who has queries regarding personal bank account must visit his bank in person or ring up the number, which's mentioned in his bank statement.

Moreover, to avoid becoming a victim of these fraudulent, phishing e-mails, it's advisable that consumers follow some simple steps. First and foremost, if an e-mail forces a recipient to follow it, then he mustn't do it. Rather, he should enter his Bank's URL manually into his browser. He can also use the search window in his browser that often detects phishing websites.

Secondly, no matter what level of smartness and vigilance a user has while banking online he can still be at the risk of getting duped. So it's essential that he routinely accesses his Internet accounts and checks his statements' status.

Thirdly, an e-mail recipient must look for substitute characters or misspellings like "1nformati0n", which normally help to bypass anti-spam programs. Finally, it's very crucial to deploy anti-spam filters to stop phishing e-mails at the very outset.

Related article: Phishing With A Redirector Code

» SPAMfighter News - 4/13/2010