Qtel Accelerates Drive Against Phishing Mails

Qatar Telecom has paced up its campaign against fake phishing e-mails and cautioned its patrons to be careful against a new series of attacks, as reported by Qatar News Agency on August 18, 2010.

According to the reports, an operator (pretending itself as Qtel) was trying to access the account e-mail addresses and account passwords of Qtel customers through phishing.

The scammer used the modus operandi of notifying Qtel customers that the firm is upgrading its network, qatar.net.qa with a strong anti-spam application. The message cautions Qtel patrons that failing to furnish their qatar.net.qa e-mail addresses and passwords will lead to blocking of their account.

Commenting on the issue, the telecom operator said on August 16, 2010 that Qtel had not sent any such messages to its customers asking to reveal their personal account details. He further explained in a statement posted on its website that it played no role in the latest attempts to dupe customers under its name.

Qtel has recommended customers to protect their e-mail addresses and reveal them to only those companies from whom they particularly want to collect information.

It is also worth noted that a same scam utilizing text SMS is also circulating and targeting Qtel. Many of the Qtel customers got an SMS in Arabic language informing that their services would be ceased if they do not pay QR 3,000 by August 20 because of accessing illegal websites.

The company requested customers not to react to such SMS and e-mails demanding ransom payments or personal information for dealings that are not a division of Qtel service management.

Furthermore, Qtel customers, who received the fake phishing mails, are suggested to report them to revenue_assurance qtel.com.qa. To get the report receipt of the fake e-mail, customers are suggested to mention the Qtel e-mail address/number on which the fake e-mail was received, sender e-mail address, time and date of receipt and the e-mail content.

The official statement said that users (who wished to discuss the issue) were required to give their phone number and Qtel staff would get back to them to investigate the matter.

Related article: Qtel Customers Warned of Phishing E-mails

» SPAMfighter News - 8/27/2010