BPD Draws People’s Attention to BoA Phishing Scam

The Bakersfield Police Department has sent out an alert that a fraudulent e-mail claiming to be from Bank of America's security division is being spammed to people.

The e-mail contains the bank's logo and looks official. But it is a phishing scam, says Bakersfield Police. The e-mail says that in order to make online banking service faster, recipients need to provide their login information, failing which there will be a temporary withdrawal of their account. It asks recipients to click on a link to update their account details.

The crooks are applying increasingly sophisticated methods on e-mails, money and checks forgeries. That makes it necessary for general public as consumers to be more vigilant and to scrutinize everything to keep their property and identities safe, says Leslie Devitt, Community Relations Specialists at the BPD. Kget published this on February 28, 2007.

Police cautions e-mail users against disclosing personal information unless the user was first to contact the bank. According to BPD, any organization with which one has had previous business would not ask for personal information again. In fact, no bank or financial institution ever asks for sensitive details over the phone or on the Internet.

To help people identify a scam like this, BPD has released a list of indications that would ensure authenticity. First, the URL should always have "https". The 's' indicates the security of the Website. The link in this spam mail showed www.alda.com.uy. The 'uy' means the e-mail would go to Uruguay. Therefore, citizens should be careful with e-mail that takes its destination to a different country, Kget's news release said.

As further caution, BPD pointed out that if the security lock is not in the bottom right hand corner of the Website, then the given link in the e-mail is not legitimate. This e-mail link was at the left side of the notice. Since at the start of business with anyone, the organization first records the person's private information and keeps it throughout, no one should answer such related questions unless the person has himself or herself initiated the call to the bank or financial institution.

» SPAMfighter News - 3/12/2007