Bank Leumi Exposed Online Scam, Cautioning Customers

Bank Leumi, an Israeli bank, moved steadily to unveil an Internet-based scam that targeted to extract secret user names and passwords of its online clients, the bank claimed in a statement on January 24, 2008, reported The Jerusalem Post on January 26, 2008.

The reports reveal that the hackers set up an imitation of the genuine site of the bank and sent customers fake mails asking them for their personal information and registering the information by following the given link in the mail.

According to the reports, there were several mails sent to many customers but only two followed the link and revealed their details while trying to access the fake site. Fortunately, not much fund was stolen and the passwords of targeted customers were immediately changed, as per the news reported by haaretz on January 25, 2008.

Significantly, Bank Leumi disclosed the phishy site which was being operated with a help of a server in Brazil and the bank got succeeded to get it removed from the Web. The bank also filed a compliant with the Bank of Israel which maintained the Israeli banking system and is continuously working for to set up new guidelines to fight the threat posed by phishing fraud. The police were also summoned and both Bank of Israel and police have started looking for the hackers.

Bank Leumi's spokesman Aviram Cohen said that users have no method of identifying fake sites, reported The Jerusalem Post on January 25, 2008. Aviram also cautioned not to open mails of anonymous people. He also said that they never send mails to their customers and that phishing attacks have dwarfed all the measures adapted by the banks to protect their sites.

Bank Leumi has said that like various financial organizations all over the world, Bank Leumi was also attacked by fraudsters for criminal purposes. This threat demands protective measures both on the part of bank as well as customers, as reported by The Jerusalem Post.

Spokeswoman of Bank Discount, another Israeli Bank, said that Israeli banks have full knowledge of this phishing issue and all work to assure that customers also know about this issue and not divulge any details to anybody, as per The Jerusalem Post.

Related article: Bank Issues Spam Alerts

» SPAMfighter News - 2/5/2008