Humberside Police Alert Residents of Phishing E-Mail

Police have issued an alert to Humberside (UK) Internet users that fake e-mails are circulating online, supposedly from their banks.

A complaint, as per reports, has come to Humberside Police from an anxious resident of East Riding (Humberside, UK) that he received one e-mail in his inbox apparently from the Halifax Bank.

This e-mail directs the recipient that he should click a given web-link that has had tentative limitations put on the user's online banking account till the time the account owner sends in more information.

Neil Clarkson, Sergeant at the Economic Crime Team of Humberside Police, said that the latest e-mail appeared as a message from the Halifax Bank, but on examining it closely, the Team was certain that it was just another scam, reported by yorkshirecoastradio.com on June 14, 2010.

Clarkson further said that a bank wouldn't ever request anyone for his security information through e-mail.

In addition, the Sergeant stated that although the problem affected the industry as a whole, there were a continuously rising number of methods for scamming the common man and acquiring their banking information and other personal details. The scams could frequently take place through a fraudulent, phishing e-mail as in the above instance, while looking to grab cash from innocent people, according to Clarkson.

Worryingly, according to a fresh report from CPP (Card Protection Company) in 2009, which surveyed 2,007 adults in the UK, 55% of respondents stated that they received e-mails, which appeared authentic messages from reputed banking institutions. Indeed, fraud attempts of this form appeared as the most common form of attack.

Similarly, CPP also suggested online users to deploy certain fundamental protections on their systems. One of the things they must make sure is that the web-page URLs start with 'https'. Both Police and the CPP recommended that users must also utilize several layers of protection, one of them being e-mail protection, which consists of anti-spam and anti-phishing software. Meanwhile, as scam e-mails are now being created with continuously increasing imagination, it's now far more important than ever before that consumers stay watchful, CPP together with Policewarned.

» SPAMfighter News - 6/25/2010