Dubai Inhabitants Urged to Ignore E-Mails Meant for Phishing

To remain safe from becoming a prey of phishing campaigns, Dubai inhabitants are urged to keep away from replying to e-mails that ask for personal information. Recently, Dubai Police busted one such phishing network that cybercriminals ran both within the country and outside it.

In the scam, an e-mail was distributed that posed as a message from a long-standing genuine business entity e.g. a bank. It (the e-mail) asked the recipients to give their latest private information like bank account, social security and credit card numbers as well as passwords, despite the details already being with the actual organization.

However, in spite of cracking the network, Dubai keeps on experiencing phishing incidences, observes Regional Head of Security and Fraud Risk Middle East, Jonathan Campbell-James for HSBC. Campbell-James' observation comes after a phishing message was recently detected hitting the inboxes of the bank's clients.

He further warned that computer-users mustn't hit on web-links until they were absolutely sure about their sender. According to him, in case a user hits on a Web-link coming from some unfamiliar source, it could potentially result in malware getting downloaded on his PC. Business24-7.ae reported this on May 12, 2010.

The Regional Head added that HSBC constantly updates its clients about newly-emerging trends along with safety measures to combat online fraud.

He reminded that the bank always utilized all means of communication at hand to inform its clients that the institution never dispatched e-mails requesting to confirm or update their security details and other personal information.

Campbell-James further stated that the HSBC website directly cautioned its online clients of the risks associated with phishing and urged that if any user has any worries regarding an inbound e-mail, apparently from HSBC, he can send the message to hsbcinternetabuse@hsbc.com. Finally Campbell-James said that HSBC maintained a contact with its regional officers and it utilized its global acumen for fighting with fraud.

Eventually, the bank suggests that as per simple security measures, Dubai's Internet bankers must set unique passwords that no one else can guess. Also, end-users must install the most recent security software and security updates so that they can effectively foil the cybercriminals' phishing intentions.

Related article: DBA Pleads Guilty of Stealing Certegy Customer Records

» SPAMfighter News - 5/21/2010