Avira Detects Tax Related Phishing E-mails Targeting Romanians

Researchers at Avira a security company are urging residents of Romania to watch out for bogus e-mails posing as messages from the country's Ministry of Public Finance.

These e-mails apparently tell recipients that ever-since computing their business activities recently, Ministerul Finantelor Publice (Ministry of Public Finance) has figured out certain tax refund due to them under Section 501 (c), with the refund amount being 473.27 RON.

Moreover, the fraudulent messages further state that recipients must fill out a tax-refund form and submit it, while giving 6-9 days of processing time over the data submitted.

Additionally, recipients can find the tax refund request form by following a web-link provided inside the email, the messages continue. But, on doing so, users are taken onto a fraudulent, phishing site.

Says Data Security Specialist Sorin Mustaca at Avira, the anti-virus provider, the fake Internet site is rather crude as also little input validation has been carried out within it. Softpedia.com reported this on November 25, 2010.

Mustaca as well discovered the file wherein the phishers were collecting form data.

Writing on Avira's blog, the security specialist said that his company had come across some recipients of the e-mail who seemingly typed in actual details there. He added that Avira would notify everything they knew about the developments to the relevant officials who expectedly would get in touch with the affected individuals.

He also noted that the date of the registration of domain name utilized in the most recent assault was November 24, 2010; however, the same type of e-mails were being circulated since long now.

As per the ministry, since October 5, 2010, many phone calls were coming to it from individuals, companies and institutions about certain e-mails that notified them of their entitlement to a tax refund by furnishing in a form their credit card and bank account details along with other personal information. Softpedia.com reported this.

Furthermore, phishing e-mails related to fake tax returns weren't restricted to Romanian taxpayers only. During the end-week of October 2010, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) cautioned Connecticut (USA) taxpayers regarding phishing e-mails based on the same tax theme.

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» SPAMfighter News - 12/8/2010