E-mail Scam Warning for Residents in Lakeshore

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) of Essex County has issued an alert to Lakeshore residents of Ontario, Canada about one phishing e-mail scam, which's presently circulating online, reports canadasrock.ca dated March 29, 2012.

Dispatched from an electronic mail id related to the domain name such as lakeshore.ca, the fake message reportedly, addresses customers of Bank of Montreal as well as carries Town of Lakeshore's logo or stamp below the text.

Directing to follow one given web-link, the e-mail tells the reader that this is necessary for confirming his private details. A sample e-mail that a resident forwarded to police following its receipt during the 2nd-week of March 2012, apparently signs off from "BMO Bank of Montreal," while the message wrongly spells the city-name.

Evidently, according to police, the e-mail is fraudulent which receivers mustn't answer by supplying any of their private information.

Moreover, officers elaborate that scam e-mail senders make their messages appear as originating from an authorized organization (similar as Bank of Montreal within the above instance), but take the recipients onto one phony website. There, they're directed for submitting alternatively confirming personal information mostly comprising Internet banking password, payment card number, alternatively SSN (Social Security Number) that the fraudsters subsequently steal.

In addition, dexterous phishers copy bank e-mail formats or their logos to unimaginable extents. Actually, they take advantage of people's expectedly busy schedules who just manage to glance at the seemingly real looking e-mails, and simultaneously also tend to regard the message body of the e-mails seriously.

However, one can remain safe from these kinds of scam e-mails. Thus, officers suggest certain measures. These are; perusing bank e-mails carefully without solely assuming their sources as legitimate, while being particularly vigilant incase the messages solicit personal information through a given online form. Normally, a legitimate bank will never dispatch such a form via e-mail. Incase it does, one should know it's a phishing trick. Further, it's also important to carefully see the e-mail id of the sender, just like the above mentioned lakeshore.ca domain address. Finally, one can re-check by visiting the original URL of the bank alternatively, directly call the bank when in doubt.

Related article: E-Crime Reporting Format To Be Launched in July

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