Utahns Alerted of Phishing E-mail Spoofing U.S. Bank

The Utah State Division of Consumer Protection in the US warned on December 11, 2008 that "spoof" e-mail as part of a phishing scam was circulating and posing to have arrived from the U.S. Bank, as reported by desertnews on December 12, 2008.

The fraudulent e-mail, according to the news report, that contains U.S. Bank logos as well as graphics tells the recipient that he/she needs to register for an application called "Verified by Visa" and gives personal account details by following a web link. Furthermore, the message warns the recipient that failure to do as per the instructions could lead to the instant suspension of his/her account.

However, the Utah Division of Consumer Protection reported that the fraud was traced down to its origin in Romania. Meanwhile, people in other US states who provided their account information on the bogus web link suffered loss of money from their accounts through illegal transfers to a pre-paid debit card, the Division reported.

Consequently, the Division recommends every user neither click on any link nor submit any account details in response to the e-mail. It also asks them to remove the fraudulent message from their inbox as no lawful organization sends an e-mail to confirm its consumers' account information. Further, in case, anyone has clicked or opened any attachment or link, person should immediately scan his/her computer with an anti-virus, said the Division.

Commenting on the latest issue, security analysts talk of a very disturbing trend in cyber crime world during 2008 that relates to the rise of a wholly expanded underground economy trading spam, phishing software, identity theft data and credit card details at relatively cheap rates.

In addition, the phishing campaigns are growing rapidly now-a-days and all the banking organizations are anxiously issuing warnings of card swapping, skimming, phishing, and the other filthy tricks that fraudsters choose to employ to grab people's money.

Besides, another new online scam was reported in Hamilton involving a fake e-mail that appeared to come from an established financial institution, warning recipients about the compromise of personal bank accounts. Thus, it asked customers for the confirmation of their account details, police said.

» SPAMfighter News - 12/24/2008