 PC Advice
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Email Phishing |
I'm the recipient of a great deal of junk e-mail - spam, phishing scams, Nigerian "419" style scams, and everything else under the sun. Yesterday, I received one that was incredibly clever in its presentation... so much so that I actually decided to research it.
The message claimed my credentials had been reviewed via an online job-finding service, which was plausible enough since I have my resume posted on Monster.com. It went on to say that, because of my background I was an ideal candidate for a position as an "online expert" at "the fastest growing online newspaper in the world," and asked that I visit the site to apply. It looked reasonably legitimate, and I visited the site's main URL to check out the content. Indeed, it points to what appears to be an online newspaper with lots of current-looking articles and content. There are even Polls and advertisements that add to the legitimacy.
However, Googling the name of the publication led me to an article in the Washington Post, which indicated that the company in question is actually phishing for personally identifying data they can sell to third parties. An aspiring writer who fell for the scam "filled out an online application with her name, address and telephone number. But instead of job offers, she began receiving a stream of unsolicited e-mails hawking Viagra, payday loans and penny stocks." The article also notes that the Washington DC area Better Business Bureau had received 8,000 requests for information about the companies in question as of June 2006. They have yet to respond to any of the BBB's queries.
Looking in more detail at the mail I received and the alleged "newspaper's" Web site, the cracks became apparent. First, the URL embedded in the mail included the e-mail address to which it had been delivered. This tactic is often used by spammers to harvest usable addresses; if someone clicks on the link, it adds the embedded e-mail address to their database of addresses from which they've received responses. Second, many of the articles on the site included typographic and syntactic errors I'd never expect to see in a legitimate news organization's articles. Third, the site is displaying an advertisement for a movie ("300") that's no longer in theaters, indicating it's not being actively maintained. Fourth, the "job offer" stated a starting salary of $30/hour, along with full benefits and other perks that are almost never available to contract writers and freelance journalists.
Since the account I use for mail can't possibly receive more spam, I decided to visit the site and fill out the initial form (presuming it didn't ask for SSN or other personal data). It didn't, and I was simply asked to provide my name and address-public information that's not very useful without additional data. Today, I received a confirmation message along with a request to fill out a more detailed application. I scrapped the message immediately, since I know the next form will probably request personal data I never provide unless I've already checked out a company's background and bona fides.
Scammers are clever people, and they're creating more legitimate looking "offers" every day. Think twice before clicking on an advertisement, especially if it seems too good to be true. Then delete it anyway.
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Free Scan
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PL AntiSpyware + Spam Controls will catch email phishing attempts automatically so that you're not a victim of Internet crime.
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