More Phishing Scams to Attack Hawaii Mail

The Hawaii Bankers Association has cautioned about a recent boost in online phishing which incite users into revealing their private data, according to the news reported by Bizjournals on May 27, 2008.

The warning was issued after phishers in the 3rd week of May attempted to acquire details from the customers of Hawaii National Bank. Further, in the last week of May 2008, fake mails were already being distributed in Hawaii from Mainland banks, which include Chase and Bank of America. But the Hawaii National Bank claimed that they are operating with investigators to trace the criminals and to clamp down the source.

Executive Director for the banking association, Gary Fujikawa, said that one of their member banks got a notice that somebody was sending mails which appeared to have come from the bank. Luckily, the users have become more vigilant and do not reply to such mails, he added. Gary also informed that statistics reports said, almost 1%-3% of web users reply to fake mails, as per the news reported by Bizjournals on May 27, 2008.

Phishing fraud is when a fake mail appears as the original message coming from any authentic institution. The mails caution about account termination and say that the recipients should give their account details by clicking on an attached link. After this, the details got straight away to the con artist who has sent the mail.

Also, a latest report by the Hawaii Anti-Phishing Working Group showed that the web has almost 2,600 phishing sites which attacked the sites of users and demands personal details. Shockingly, phishers have started thinking big and has started attacking leading corporations.

The bankers association has recommended the users not to click the link if they have even a slight hint of it being fake. It may have the virus. In changing passwords, users should be alert and they must safeguard their system against spyware. ID theft has proved destructive in the past and will prove even more destroying in the coming years.

Related article: More Requests For Better E-Mail and Spam Control

» SPAMfighter News - 6/5/2008