Jay Wrolstad, newsfactor.com
> An online scam offering the lure of free money through a bogus Google
> Web site has been uncovered by security company Websense, which
> reported that the site was shut down about 30 hours after it was first
> discovered on Monday.
> The phishing attack employed a page that closely resembled the real
> Google home page, with a banner message claiming "You won $400.00!"
> Users were instructed to collect their prize money by transferring it
> to a credit card. To do so, they were asked to provide their account
> numbers. They also were asked to provide their home addresses and > phone numbers.
> After the sensitive personal information was collected, users were
> redirected to Google's legitimate Web site. The phishing site was
> hosted in the U.S., Websense said.
> Direct Approach
> "This is a little different than other phishing attacks in that it
> attempted to entice people into divulging their credentials and using
> the Google name, as opposed to attacks that target banks or e-commerce
> sites," said Dan Hubbard, senior director of security research at > Websense.
> This particular phishing site did host other attacks targeting
> financial institutions, he added, noting that the approach taken by
> these criminals was fairly rudimentary when compared with attacks that
> use a Trojan horse or log a user's keystrokes.
> Attacks on the Rise
> And the Google mimicry reflects a disturbing trend. A recent Gartner
> survey showed that phishing attacks grew at double-digit rates last > year in the U.S.
> In the 12 months ending in May 2005, some 73 million U.S. Internet
> users said they received an average of more than 50 phishing e-mails
> in the prior year; some users reported a dozen or more daily.
> And an estimated 2.4 million online consumers report losing money
> directly because of the phishing attacks. Of these, approximately 1.2
> million consumers lost $929 million during the year preceding the
> survey, Gartner reported.
> "The standard security rules apply in protecting yourself from a
> phishing attack," said Hubbard. "Don't click on links in e-mail
> messages, type in the address of a bank yourself, run the latest
> antivirus software, and obtain the latest security patches."
> "And," Hubbard noted, "you can assume that anyone offering you some
> sum of money on the net is most likely just a crook."
> Copyright 2005 NewsFactor Network, Inc.
> NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
> daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
>
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I think when these people are cought, they should just shoot them right on the spot, after a few public shootings then they will all get the idea!!!!
The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co.