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Topic: Fraud Alert (Read 153 times)

Rhune
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Fraud Alert
« on: Oct 7^th, 2004, 1:32pm »

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http://www.fraudwatchinternational.com/fraud_alerts/041002_2528_smith.ht m

WASHINGTON -- "Phishing" has gone Wall Street.
Securities regulators warned Monday about phony e-mails purportedly sent by Smith Barney seeking account information from customers of the brokerage unit of Citigroup Inc. (C). The solicitation is a fake, according to Securities and Exchange Commission officials.

Phishing uses fake e-mails and Web sites designed to fool recipients into revealing personal financial data, including credit card numbers and Social Security numbers.

Banks and their customers have been hit with phishing scams before, but the Smith Barney e-mails are thought to be the first targeting brokerage firms, said John Stark, head of Internet enforcement at the SEC.
Some SEC enforcement lawyers found the bogus e-mail, headed "Official Information for Client of Smith Barney," in their inboxes on Monday, and "we brought it immediately to the attention of Smith Barney," Mr. Stark said in a telephone interview.

A Smith Barney spokeswoman wasn't immediately available to comment.

SEC officials said they aren't sure how many people received the e-mail.

Although the e-mail appeared to be sent by Smith Barney, and even carried the company's familiar umbrella logo, Mr. Stark said the text of the message appeared suspicious.

"Dear Smith Barney customer," the message read. "Technical services of the Smith Barney are carrying out a planned software upgrade. We earnestly ask you to visit the following link to start the procedure of confirmation of customers' data." After an online link to what appears to be a Smith Barney site, the message adds: "This instruction has been sent to all Smith Barney customers and is obligatory."

In a typical "phishing" attack, individuals who click on such a link would be directed to a site controlled by fraudsters seeking personal data such as PINs, passwords and logins used to access financial accounts or Web sites, officials caution.

"When fraudsters go on 'phishing' expeditions, they lure their targets into a false sense of security by hijacking the familiar, trusted logos of established, legitimate companies," the SEC advised in a recent warning on its own Web site.

Bogus e-mails claiming to be from brokerage firms could deceive investors into giving up information that could be used for unauthorized trading, or possibly even to empty their account, so regulators say they should be treated as a serious threat.

"We just want to alert people right away to be really careful with any kind of information they receive," said Mr. Stark. He recommends investors treat all e-mails with "old-fashioned suspicion," and be particularly wary of any business that asks them to supply personal data, since legitimate firms rarely seek such information through e-mails.

The SEC's Web site includes tips on how to deal with suspicious requests, such as verifying correspondence with the company and doing your own typing rather than clicking on a link provided in an e-mail. Even though the Web address provided may look like the real deal, the SEC said fraudsters can mask the true destination.

Mr. Stark has another tip for handling phish-y stuff: "Ignore it, or better yet, report it to us."

-By Judith Burns, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6692; [email protected]
(END) Dow Jones Newswires

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JP
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Re: Fraud Alert
« Reply #1 on: Oct 8^th, 2004, 2:02pm »

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I received an email once from Paypal, saying that they will close my account if I don't upgrade, blah blah. I don't even have a Paypal account. Then there's one claiming to be from Citibank. Sheesh. Roll Eyes

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AoM
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Re: Fraud Alert
« Reply #2 on: Oct 10^th, 2004, 8:32am »

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*LOL* Jaypee, I get them from Citibank and suntrust all the time! I don't have accounts with either of those banks..

I also get emails from Ebay telling me to confirm my credit card. Ebay doen't even HAVE my credit card...I pay by money order *L*

How to tell a fraud: If a bank you don't have an account at asks you to confirm your account.

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JP
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Re: Fraud Alert
« Reply #3 on: Oct 11^th, 2004, 12:51pm »

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How to tell a fraud 2: The message you receive is actually a hyperlinked image, and when you put your mouse over the image, you will see in the status bar of your window (lower left), that the address it points to is something like http://%20%37%45%31.... etc.

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