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| Users may be clicking on links to bogus banking
websites |
Sophos technical support has reminded computer users to be wary
of bogus emails that pretend to come from online banks. The emails
typically ask users to confirm their email address by visiting a
website and entering information about their account numbers,
passwords and PIN details.
Sophos technical support reports that it has seen an increase in
queries from users recently disturbed by the emails they have
received, some of which have appeared on first examination
extremely official, claiming to come from online banks. Recently
bogus emails have claimed to come from a number of banks including
Nationwide,
NatWest, Barclays, Westpac and Halifax.
Once account numbers, PIN and login password details have been
obtained the fraudsters can easily steal money from the innocent
user's bank.
"The people behind these emails are common criminals, intent on
stealing your cash," said Graham Cluley, senior technology
consultant for Sophos. "They have been busy setting up scam
websites which mimic the appearance of the real banking sites, and
have directed innocent users via email to visit them. Any user who
receives a bogus email such as these should inform the bank
immediately so that they and the legal authorities can
investigate."
Sophos notes that because the fraudsters behind the email do not
know what online bank (if any) is being used by the owner of a
particular email address they have been spamming thousands of
people en masse in the hope of successfully capturing a victim.
The UK National Hi-Tech Crime Unit has said it has stepped up
its investigations of scams such as the one described above, but
that there is a risk prosecutions could be hampered by inadequate
laws in the countries where the scammers operate.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.