Latest Technique “Text Phishing” Accompanying E-mail Phishing

Customers of banks should be extra cautious against the latest identity theft scheme known as "text phishing". The fake message technique works in the same way as the e-mail phishing scam does.

As per details given by Capt., Zim Schwartze, Columbia Police Department, many banks have been attacked by the "text phishing" recently (January and February 2008), as reported by Missourian on February 20, 2008.

Capt. Schwartze also gave details about the latest texting scam that attacked "Boone County National Bank (BCNB)" and its holding company, "Central Bank". The text of the message diverts customers toward a fake site, which looks similar to the official site of the bank.

Both the e-mail and text scams cheat the customers by sending a false notification about the locking of their accounts. The message then asks the customers to unlock account by opening a link and inserting personal banking information. The difference with the "text phishing" is that users should manually input the link for the fraudulent site.

Further, phishing happens when a fake source, which appears authentic, is sent in order to get personal details from a user. The phishers get the user login details and thus, empties the account. Security experts claimed that a lot of users, including the savvy ones, fail to realize that their server settings have been hijacked.

Vice President of Marketing, Boone County National Bank, Mary Wilkerson, commented on this new kind of phishing and said that the bank has no information of customers who have been exploiting any kind of mail scam. Mary also claimed that these mails are only sent to the customers of Central Bank and not to the BCNB customers, as reported by Missourian on February 20, 2008.

Mary also said that until and unless the customers don't reply to these e-mails, there is no danger. Wilkerson also added that the bank will never address their customers through text message or send mail for asking personal details.

Both Wilkerson and Schwartze advised that customers should inform the police so that the situation can be investigated, if it is a fraud. But Schwartze also clarified that as most of the scams takes place outside the US, police cannot provide much help.

Related article: Latest Scam - Emails Threatening Death to Recipients

» SPAMfighter News - 2/28/2008