AOL Subscribers Warned of Fresh Phishing E-mail Scam

Security researchers are cautioning about one fresh phishing e-mail scam that aims at American Online (AOL) subscribers, thus published softpedia.com dated March 15, 2013.

It maybe noted that a US-based worldwide serving brand, AOL invests, designs, and expands online sites as well as trademark items.

Unlike the usual, the current scam doesn't project 'security updates' for deceptively getting AOL users to divulge personal login credentials rather it cautions probable victims about certain malware contamination.

Using the header, "Customer Care Solution," it's stated in the fake e-mail that one virus named TJ2117 is currently infecting the user's files therefore, he should login at a given web-link so he can get the latest anti-virus of 2013 namely Secure TJ2117. The e-mail then ends by thanking the reader because he's an AOL customer.

But following the web-link lands end-users on a fake site which shows one bogus AOL login space. If end-users enter their login particulars here they'll mechanically get diverted onto the top-page of the real AOL site. Mistakenly knowing that they've accomplished the required virus removal-program, the victims may perceive, but too late that they've been 'phished.'

Meanwhile, the cyber crooks responsible for the scam becoming equipped with the filched credentials can break into the victims' actual AOL accounts, seize additional sensitive info as also utilize the hijacked A/Cs for leveraging more spam and scam schemes. They may even block the true account-holders from accessing their accounts so they become incapable of aborting the fraudulent operations.

Security analysts after studying the currently spreading spoofed e-mail scam remark that the kind of pretty crude campaign is targeted at not-so-skilled PC-operators who can so get panicked with announcements of viral contamination on their computers that they click on web-links devoid of second thoughts.

Thus specialists advise that anyone getting victimized with the scam should reset his passwords instantly.

Eventually, AOL users became targets of phishing scam previously too. During August 2012, fraudulent electronic mails captioned "Your Aol Mail Update!!" seemingly arrived from "AOL Online acct_security@aol.com." At the time AOL Online acct_security@aol.com stated it didn't ever dispatch customers, e-mails asking them to provide their confidential information in the current manner.

Related article: AOL’s decision to charge spam sparks off a debate

» SPAMfighter News - 3/21/2013