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Fax-Back Phishing Scam
Techtree News Staff, Aug 12, 2005 1520 hrs ISTPhishers have come up with a brand new trick, to lure unsuspecting victims to fax their banking details to fraudsters.
According to reports, phishers have come up with a brand new trick, to lure unsuspecting victims to fax their banking details to fraudsters.
Sophos said, the modus-operandi is such, that users receive e-mail messages that seem to be coming from "Paypal". These messages warn recipients of an alleged attempt to reset their password and request sensitive information from them, as part of an on-going investigation.
The e-mails direct users to a Microsoft Word document hosted on a website and urge them to download a form, fill it out with their bank account details, including credit card numbers, PIN information and login details and fax it to a toll-free number.
Sophos maintains, that this free-phone number is actually hosting an active fax machine, though it's not clear whether it is located in the USA or is being re-directed elsewhere. The new tactic, comes in the wake of decreasing impact of e-mail based phishing attempts, which ask people to fill out personal information on-line.
According to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant, Sophos, there have been several attempts by phishers to use this technique of late and as such, some people might find it safer to fill-in and fax-back a form, rather than entering confidential information on a bogus website.
However, Cluley feels, that the phishing gang might have made a huge mistake, by including the fax number in their scam. Sophos has reported the scam e-mails to eBay and is awaiting their response.
Sophos said, the modus-operandi is such, that users receive e-mail messages that seem to be coming from "Paypal". These messages warn recipients of an alleged attempt to reset their password and request sensitive information from them, as part of an on-going investigation.
The e-mails direct users to a Microsoft Word document hosted on a website and urge them to download a form, fill it out with their bank account details, including credit card numbers, PIN information and login details and fax it to a toll-free number.
Sophos maintains, that this free-phone number is actually hosting an active fax machine, though it's not clear whether it is located in the USA or is being re-directed elsewhere. The new tactic, comes in the wake of decreasing impact of e-mail based phishing attempts, which ask people to fill out personal information on-line.
According to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant, Sophos, there have been several attempts by phishers to use this technique of late and as such, some people might find it safer to fill-in and fax-back a form, rather than entering confidential information on a bogus website.
However, Cluley feels, that the phishing gang might have made a huge mistake, by including the fax number in their scam. Sophos has reported the scam e-mails to eBay and is awaiting their response.
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Cimaovest
,Whistler, on Aug 15, 2005 04:07 AM
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