Georgia Credit Union Name Used in Phishing Scam

As per news published in GreenevilleSun on November 1, 2008, several people in Greeneville reportedly got a fake e-mail on October 24, 2008, posing to be sent by TIC Federal Credit Union, Georgia, informing recipients that some restrictions had been put on their Georgia credit union accounts.

According to security researchers, investigations revealed that a lady who got the "fraud prevention alert" e-mail said she never had any account with TIC Federal Credit Union based in Columbia, Ga., and could not figure out the reason for getting the such e-mail. Meanwhile, the fake e-mail was sent to not merely the lady, but to several other Greeneville Sun employees who also had no association with the credit union, as per reports.

Moreover, when Greeneville Sun reporter reached TIC Federal Credit Union to receive the feed back on October 24, 2008, a spokesman explained that fake e-mail messages were a part of phishing scams designed to deceive people if they replied to the message, as reported by GreenevilleSun on November 1, 2008.

The spokesman also added that the credit union knows about the phishing scam and the IT department is working with other authorities to resolve the situation.

Meanwhile, this is the latest style of intercepting users' private details online by using the names of credit unions and the different subjects around them, as per internet security experts. Also, online scammers are putting all their efforts to craft legitimate subject titles to make the recipient feel that the message is actually legitimate so that they can be easily phished off personal details. Further, the hoax Website associated with the spoofed e-mail is designed to appear real to the recipient, making him think that the e-mail is genuine.

Internet security vendors said that in the current scam, no recipient of the e-mail think twice or seeing the credit union Website in detail to find out whether it is real or spoofed. As per them, a phishing site can be recognized as well as getting phished prevented, provided the recipient looks at the site closely.

Related article: George Mason University Hit by Spam Mail

» SPAMfighter News - 11/12/2008