Phishing E-mail Scam Targets BigPond Telstra Customers
An e-mail scam posing as sent from BigPond Telstra is under observation ever-since a security official got a message using the salutation "Dear BigPond User" that had malevolent web-links, published computerworld.com.au dated May 8, 2013.
A telecommunications provider, BigPond, it maybe noted, is a highly renowned telecom in Australia.
The e-mail, which got dispatched on May 3, 2013, targeted one reseller at AVG though he wasn't a BigPond subscriber. Titled, "Telstra Bill-Arrival Notification," the e-mail directed the recipient that he must make his billing details up-to-date through the click of certain web-link.
AVG blogged that it wasn't any difficult to spot the scam e-mails since they didn't show BigPond subscribers' full names.
The security company's blog posting read that recipients who glanced at the e-mail, and brushed on the web-links with their mouse, would find that the latter weren't associated with BigPond else Telstra in any manner. Indeed the web-links appeared extremely suspicious, it stated.
Actually, the e-mail represents one fraudulent, phishing campaign crafted for duping Telstra clients in a way that they'll give away their financial and other personal details to online scammers. Moreover, the web-links are camouflaged to make them look like they take onto the real website of Telstra, while sender's id too is camouflaged to make it look as emerging from Telstra.
As per security researchers, when a phishing assault occurs, fraudsters dispatch innumerable fake, phishing e-mails. Considering there's a huge customer-base for Telstra across Australia, plentiful recipients of the above phishing e-mail are likely to be a Telstra BigPond subscriber of mobile or landline phone service as also may or mayn't be its bandwidth customer. Therefore, it'll take merely a few Telstra clients from the massive customer-base who get the scam e-mail and really become convinced of the trick followed with divulging the asked details to yield truly high benefits to the scammers.
Besides, it isn't solely BigPond, which scammers targeted this year (2013). Vodafone Australia, during April 2013, also cautioned consumers of phishing e-mails, which looked like arriving from it. The e-mails captioned, "Tax Refund," falsely notified customers about an 18.60AUD tax refund due for them.
» SPAMfighter News - 5/13/2013