Mashreq Bank Becomes Victim of Phishing

A well known bank in the United Arab Emirates namely Mashreq Bank recently became a victim of an e-mail scam during the 2nd week of January 2011, according to the news that Emirates247.com published on January 17, 2011.

Claiming that Mashreq Bank is determined to keep its accountholders' information protected, the fraudulent phishing e-mail tells the recipient that his Internet access to Mashreq has been tentatively withdrawn for security reasons. Elaborating on why this has been done, the e-mail says that probably the user's confidential code that he entered isn't the same as the one previously provided, alternatively somebody attempted at making an unauthorized access to his Mashreq online account.

Thereafter, the e-mail instructs the recipient that he must access a given form by entering his password so that he can reinstate his account.

In addition, the message also tries to appear genuine and legitimate so it states that Mashreq Bank is sorry for the trouble, which has been caused to the accountholders.

Remarking about the electronic mail, a Mashreq representative stated that it was clearly part of a phishing scam. Indeed, he reiterated, the Bank wouldn't ever dispatch its clients an e-mail having an URL and asking them to log onto it. Emirates247.com reported this.

Meanwhile, the Bank on its side is suggesting that if any accountholder doubts that he has been victimized with a phishing scam, then he must instantly request the bank for the closure of his account so that his funds don't get lost.

Alongside, the security researchers are suggesting that users mustn't click an e-mail link for accessing the website of their Banks. They mustn't also ever give out their usernames, passwords alternatively PINs in response to any request for the same even if it's from their bank's officer. Finally, Internet-users must always set passwords that have complex alpha-numeric combinations, difficult to crack.

Eventually, the Mashreq Bank becoming a target of a phishing scam isn't something new. During July 2010, 18 phishing alerts were posted for the Bank that anti-phishing firm FraudWatch issued since 2010-beginning, wherein the majority associated with fake links, which diverted users onto spoofed websites.

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» SPAMfighter News - 1/25/2011