Fake Lloyds TSB E-mails Hit Inboxes of the Bank’s Customers, Cautions Security Expert

According to Conrad Longmore, Security Blogger for Dynamoo's Blog, phishing e-mails masquerading as the retail bank Lloyds TSB of UK are presently hitting unsuspecting Internauts so they would voluntarily download malware onto their PCs, reported softpedia.com in news on October 25, 2013.

Bearing a subject line "You have received a new debit," the fake e-mails tell that they're auto-generated messages from the LloydsLink Internet payment facility of Lloyds TSB PLC. An attachment is provided to know the payment's full description, the e-mails state.

For sounding somewhat genuine, the e-mails further tell that they are private and secret as also are likely to have privileged material. In case the user has got the e-mail by mistake, he is requested to inform the sender followed with erasing the message instantly. As per rule, he mustn't copy, reveal, forward else utilize any content/attachment inside the e-mail, the messages warns.

But the attached file labeled "Report_recipientname.zip" carries one executable with the filename Report_10252013.exe, which looks like a Portable Document File (PDF).

Actually, it is the notorious Trojan ZeuS' variant that's known for stealing banking information of users from their contaminated PCs, Longmore explains. Merely 13 anti-virus (AV) engines out of the total 47 of Virus Total could detect the threat.

Internet fraudsters routinely attack financial institutions like Lloyds TSB. Therefore, suppose anyone gets an unsolicited e-mail that seemingly any institution like a bank sent and directs him to follow an embedded web-link else view an attachment, similar as within the above stated instance, in that case he must treat such an e-mail with the greatest doubt. Further, for verifying the e-mail's authenticity if the message raises any doubt, he should call the institution straight away and make sure, similar as Lloyds TSB within the aforementioned instance.

Meanwhile, in a likewise scam attack against Lloyds TSB, phishing e-mails carrying the caption "Important Message - Your Internet Banking Account Status!" too became noticeable to security researchers during October 2012. The said e-mails attempted at conning the bank's clients in a way that the latter would divulge their financial as well as other personal data to scammers.

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