Phishing Scam Attacks Land of Lincoln Credit Union Members

Bogus e-mails are circulating and trying to reach members of Land of Lincoln Credit Union in tricking them to divulge account information in the name of a security check. The credit union is warning its members that these are actually phishing e-mails from an overseas scam.

Two customers of Land of Lincoln, on May 30, 2007, fell for the phishing e-mails when they responded by supplying their personal information. While one customer suffered monetary loss the other was suspicious and immediately contacted the credit union, which froze any exchange on his account. Mac Duaway, president of Land of Lincoln said this in a statement that Herald and Review published on May 31, 2007.

In phishing scams like these, the e-mail sender usually asks the recipient to at least provide name, address and account number. This particular e-mail first asks the recipient to verify his identity for safety of his account. When the user responds by clicking on the e-mail link, it leads him to a site looking similarly as the LLCU website. If the user clicks on the top left for the home banking link, it starts enquiring for the user's login and account information. Land of Lincoln Credit Union simple described it a phishing scam and that no one from the union had sent such e-mail.

Mac Dunaway cautioned its members not to disclose any private information over the Net for no reputable organization asks for such information via the World Wide Web.

Land of Lincoln said the first batch of e-mails was released on May 30, 2007 and the credit union's ISP traced their origin in Spain. Later a fresh e-mail pretending to be a survey started showing up that was traced to Switzerland.

Cody Moore, Police Sgt. Of Decatur said he knew about the scam since a handful of the fraudulent e-mails had been delivered to PCs of some city employees. He said no one in his knowledge who was scammed would send formal complaints. Herald and Review published Moore's statement on May 31, 2007. In March 2007 a similar scam ran that involved the Decatur Earthmovers Credit Union.

Related article: Phishing With A Redirector Code

» SPAMfighter News - 6/14/2007