Commerce Bank Issues Phishing Alert to its Customers

According to Commerce Bank, two fake e-mails are circulating and using the name of the bank. They are targeted to steal personal information of the customers of the bank.

Phishing scams targeting banks are more or less common nowadays. They try to lure users to follow links pointing to phony Websites where users are made to part with their private and confidential information.

Of the two e-mails in circulation, one uses the subject line, "Commerce Bank Security Alerts". The e-mail says that Commerce Bank is updating customer accounts; therefore, needs the recipient to confirm his/her account details. It also provides a Website link which users are asked to click. Similarly, the other e-mail message displays the name of Commerce Bank and contains a link.

These attacks are unlike typical phishing scams that are designed to steal users' confidential details by infecting their computers with a Trojan downloader. If recipients clicked on the link, malicious software would automatically infect their PCs potentially allowing the scammers to acquire control of the system from a remote location for either distributing spam or launching attacks against other systems.

According to Debbie Harding, Spokeswoman of Commerce Bank, the bank's security experts have information about the two e-mails under circulation in the Commerce name; therefore they are advising customers to avoid answering to either of the two messages, as reported by bizJournals on October 22, 2008.

Furthermore, cyber criminals have begun masking themselves with several popular bank names to spread malware among the general public. These scammers are exploiting the ongoing economic crisis and distributing phishing e-mails that carried a link made to appear as relating to the original bank site.

Also, the scammers have no conscience as they typically take advantage of the most dreadful breaking events to deceive online users. Therefore, security experts suggested that rather than clicking on given links, users should visit the Website directly by typing its URL into the browser.

In another related news, messaging and Web security services providers to global enterprises, MessageLabs lately reported that with the worsening credit situation, phishing attacks have been increasing in terms of frequency. phishing attacks rose 16% in September and 103% in October 2008.

Related article: Commerce Bank Successfully Thwarts Hacking of Client Data

» SPAMfighter News - 11/1/2008