andsome Posted February 11, 2005 Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 Read this.Security warning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted February 11, 2005 Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 This is a strange phishing scam as I can't imagine any circumstances where Microsoft would ever require the details that are being requested. They don't normally sell or deal directly with the public so would NEVER need to know anything about anyone's financial arrangements.Having said that, I continue to receive emails from all sorts of organisations (most I've never heard of) asking me for details of various confidential things. I suppose the phishers work on the principle of flooding the potential market expecting, like genuine mass mailshots, a 1% (ish) uptake which then makes it all worthwhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 This is a strange phishing scam as I can't imagine any circumstances where Microsoft would ever require the details that are being requested. They don't normally sell or deal directly with the public so would NEVER need to know anything about anyone's financial arrangements.Having said that, I continue to receive emails from all sorts of organisations (most I've never heard of) asking me for details of various confidential things. I suppose the phishers work on the principle of flooding the potential market expecting, like genuine mass mailshots, a 1% (ish) uptake which then makes it all worthwhile.I have heard that with spam e-mails, if the take up is as low as 0.1%, it is profitable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuzzman Posted February 11, 2005 Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 I'd like to know what type of person actually buys into these phishing scams?Clearly the emails are not legit: there's often misspellings, grammatical errors, and blatantly obvious false information. Not to mention, it goes against common sense... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted February 11, 2005 Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 scuzzman, I do know someone who was taken in by the Nigerian scam. This was when it was done by FAX, before the days of email. He was a qualified accountant and the financial director of the company I worked for at the time so he really should have known better. So keen was he to help the Nigerians out, he gave his employers bank details and accounts. The Nigerians drained almost £250,000 ($500,000 at the time) before the scam was discovered.He is out of jail now and unemployable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 Unfortunately there's one born every minute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted February 12, 2005 Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 I'd like to know what type of person actually buys into these phishing scams?Clearly the emails are not legit: there's often misspellings, grammatical errors, and blatantly obvious false information. Not to mention, it goes against common sense...Actually most of the phishing scams I have seen ("PayPal", "CitiBank", etc.) do look very legit. They contain logos, even privacy links to the original website, and they are quite elegantly written.But if people fell for these things when they started, surely everybody has heard by now about these scams. If people still falling for this, well:Unfortunately there's one born every minute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 The thing to remember of course is that banks etc do NOT send e-mails asking for details. You should always type the URL to such institutions, or enter a link that you have saved. Then you will visit the correct site, and it will be padlocked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuzzman Posted February 12, 2005 Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 The thing to remember of course is that banks etc do NOT send e-mails asking for details. You should always type the URL to such institutions, or enter a link that you have saved. Then you will visit the correct site, and it will be padlocked.Exactly. Now, before email, like you were saying -pops-, I might be able to understand. Not lately, financial institutions, businesses, and creditors go to every length they can to insist We will never request your authentication or financial information through email or an unsolicited telephone call.This is aside from every news outlet running the stories lately, and the advisories on every news website, ISP website, and financial sites... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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