Phishing Scam Involving Licenses Unearthed

One rapidly spreading phishing e-mail campaign involving licenses and apparently sending messages to customers from the services team of NZTA (New Zealand Transport Agency) has been lately uncovered, the agency warns.

These messages ask recipients for the details of their licenses after they take them onto an NZTA website that's actually a fake.

Says Andy Knackstedt, spokesperson for New Zealand Transport Agency, the e-mails claim to be from the NZTA. But, in reality they belong to a phishing campaign that takes users onto a fake site. Therefore, anybody getting one of them must erase it instantly, Knackstedt advises. TVnz published this on October 21, 2010.

Reportedly, ever-since alerts were first sent out on October 20, 2010 regarding the scam, fresh samples of the phishing electronic mail have been doing the rounds. These e-mails, displaying the caption "Billing Information," address the recipient as 'dear customer' and tell him to provide any changed personal address, drivers license, or bank by clicking through a given web-link.

The Department of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs that have been notified of the scam have both listed these electronic messages into their scam alerts. Sunlive published this on October 21, 2010.

Said the NZTA, if anybody had mistakenly entered the details of his driver license into the fake, phishing site then he must call his contact center at 0800-822-422. This would be followed with cancellation of the license so that its details no longer remained valid when anyone made an effort for utilizing them illegally.

Additionally, the agency said that for anybody victimized with the scam, his usual fee of $38.20 would be waived off and a new license would be provided free of cost.

Meanwhile according to the security specialists, a few phishing e-mails even directed users to give personal payment card information on the fake website. They warn that these phishing campaigns are designed for acquiring recipients' financial and other personal information and eventually for committing ID-theft. As a result, they suggest that if anybody has already given his details then he should inform his bank instantly for the cancellation of his card.

Related article: Phishing With A Redirector Code

» SPAMfighter News - 10/29/2010