Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global
network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have warned of
an email scam that poses as a survey from Chase Manhattan bank.
The emails claim that Chase Manhattan's online division is
conducting a survey of its users, and will credit $20 to the
accounts of those who take part. However, in reality the emails do
not come from the bank but point to a bogus website which attempts
to steal usernames, passwords and other confidential information
from unwary surfers.
The scam claims to be a survey offering a cash
reward from the Chase Manhattan bank.
"Email scammers are looking for new ways to fleece the unwary,
and this time have come up with a new twist: asking people to help
in a survey for a cash reward," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos. "Internet users who bank online
need to be wary of these kinds of tricks, and be extremely careful
about what websites they hand their personal information over to
before they end up penniless."
Sophos researchers believe that the emails are a variant of the
commonly-encountered "Letter from Nigeria" scams, also known as 419
Advanced Fee Fraud, that fool innocent users into believing that a
large amount of money will be transferred into their bank account,
but are really designed to steal information about the user's
identity and bank account, or demand a "handling fee" for the money
transfer.
"It's important to realise that Chase Manhattan have done
nothing wrong. Scammers are posing as the well known bank because
Chase Manhattan is an established and well-trusted name, and they
hope it will encourage victims to hand over their credentials,"
continued Cluley.
Sophos reminds users to be wary of unsolicited emails, and has
published information about how individuals can learn how to protect
themselves against this and other phishing attacks.
Organizations concerned about being fraudulently represented in
phishing campaigns can sign up to the Sophos early warning system,
Sophos PhishAlert.
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.