Aggressive Phishing Hits Online Banking

Matt Egan, a blogger, gets harmless spam quite regularly. His mother frequently sends chain emails alerting him against the "current menace from criminals", including highly complex swindles. He usually disregards them, since he believes that prudence is the most suitable way of ensuring security, both online and offline, as issued by PCadvisor's April 13, 2007 edition.

However, recently, he got a 'cautionary' chain message:

The email includes a PDF that depicts a guy fiddling with an ATM. Then a target appears in the shot, and the ATM seizes his credit card. Now comes the fraudster, who decides to 'assist' the injured party, and while helping out extracts the banking information.

After the brash conman expresses his inability to 'assist', he and the scapegoat leave, soon the scammer returns to extract the credit card, whose PIN he now knows. His impudence is honestly mind-blowing. Therefore, the users themselves are the biggest danger to their safety, deduces Egan.

This spam is followed the outcome of the drive 'Internet Safety: The State of the Nation,' by both the British government and the industry online safety crusade. According to the crusade UK end-users are doing vital mistakes that could prove to be very damaging, they endanger their private and fiscal details being appropriated by offenders, identical to the above instance.

The disclosures made by the investigation reports are especially disturbing since those who have been subjected to online scams are reported to have suffered a loss of around $1,740 per incident, according to Publictechnology's mid-week edition of April.

Subsequently, the report also stated that nearly 5 million UK computing machine users are left exposed to incursions - as a result of spywares, malware or illegal penetrations.

'Internet Safety: The State of the Nation,' results have established that above 36% of UK's 13.9 million web-linked home computer users or 5 million machines don't have any firewall barring cyber-terrorists from infiltrating into their PCs and exploiting confidential data.

Prohibition is the greatest protection! Don't, divulge your particulars to anyone, enabling phishers to acquire your money, over the net or while on the move.

» SPAMfighter News - 4/24/2007