New Zealand’s Westpac Bank Confronts Phishing E-mail Campaign

An 'account update' electronic mail supposedly from New Zealand's Westpac Bank tells recipient through the bank's Security Team that he would not any more get his banking profile because of alleged illegitimate login activity with his account, thus reported hoax-slayer.com in news on September 3, 2015.

Directing recipient of the fraudulent electronic mail for clicking a given web-link for logging in as well as regaining his account, the message carries the official symbol of Westpac as well as one web-link which pretends to take the user onto the Westpac site.

But, Westpac has not sent the e-mail message, which is characteristically one phishing electronic mail crafted for filching the potential victim's login credentials for his bank account.

Anyone following the web-link would be led onto one fake site fictitiously resembling the real Westpac login site. If the user logs into that fictitious site, he would get sent onto another site which directs the user for replying the security questions related to his account. Once done, the user would then be diverted onto the real Westpac site, which happens automatically.

Here the user may think he has effectively regained his account while carry out his usual tasks without being any wiser.

However, in the meantime, the e-mail scammers would gather the victim's Westpac login particulars as well as utilize them for compromising his bank account and then carry out fraudulent transactions with his funds from his account and in his name, remark security analysts after examining the fake phishing e-mail.

Evidently after the above phishing incident, Westpac Bank says there are nevertheless certain easy but significantly important security suggestions for not getting victimized with this kind of phishing e-mail scam. These are as follows: not pursuing any web-link given within an electronic mail like the one above; not answering such an e-mail; informing the authorized Internet based banking site of Westpac about the phishing e-mail via dispatching the message at phishing@westpac.co.nz and after that erasing it wholly from one's inbox. In addition, user's anti-spam program must be activated to prevent such spam mails, which perform phishing tricks, from entering his mailbox.

» SPAMfighter News - 9/25/2015