National Australia Bank Issues Warning Against Phishing

National Australia Bank (NAB) has warned its customers of a phishing scam that is currently active on the Internet.

The phishing e-mail addresses the recipients in a similar fashion that any unsolicited e-mail does with the salutation "Dear Customer". It further informs the recipients that he should get his/her MasterCard and Visa upgraded to get him/her ready for smart card upgrade. It also asserted the upgrading as necessary to evade any problems due to ATM services in coming times.

To impart an authentic appearance to the e-mail, it tells the recipients that recently NAB has added on new security software. The fake e-mail also tells that NAB is determined to offer better quality, secure and reliable service to its customers.

In between the text, a spoof link is given, that forwards the victims to the NAB's phishing site. Users dodged by the phishing e-mail lose their personal details like, credit card number, Telephone or Net Banking password, NAB ID, etc. to the scammers.

According to the Bank, this is not the end in fact. Customers are also receiving e-mails from unknown sources, with phishers purporting to be from financial institutions including banks. These e-mails contain certain attachments or links, which when clicked, may result into the downloading and installation of malware onto the users' systems.

Considering this, National Australia Bank has strongly recommended that customers should keep the operating systems of their computers updated. NAB also advises that while doing online banking and accessing the NAB website, they should type the address of the bank's website (www.nab.com.au) in their browser address bar.

The Bank further suggests the customers that they should think twice when they receive an e-mail or while they are visiting a suspicious looking website. It says that an aware customer should not carry on further and ask for help at 1300 651 656. Moreover, such unsolicited and suspicious e-mails should be brought to the notice of the Bank; thereby, facilitating the proper investigation of the matter by the authorities.

Interestingly, phishing attacks are not new to the NAB. According to the security company Websense (that detected the attack on the online customers of the Bank), earlier in 2006, a phishing e-mail of similar kind was hosted on a website in China.

Related article: National Bank’s Online Users on Phishers’ Target

» SPAMfighter News - 4/18/2009