Phishing Frauds
Phishing Frauds
An act of stealing sensitive/private/personal information from a particular individual through falsified claims/mimicking as a legitimate enterprise, ‘identity theft’.
You may have received an email telling you that your account status is inactive and needs reconfirmation before it’s deleted or an email saying that someone subscribed this (your) email address (yourname@yourdomain.com) and if you want to be removed, follow the link; later then takes you to another unsolicited site which compromises your security – You’re loaded with spywares and malwares. Loads of information are then extracted from your computer, i.e. Emails, phone numbers, addresses, credit card information, passwords, account details, personal details without you even knowing or your computer crashes and/or slows, or, your email is suddenly loaded with more and more spam mails.
These are phishing frauds which are still very rampant in the internet world. As much as Glocorp would like to address your concern regarding this matter, we’re trying very hard to help you through our process of understanding spam, scams, frauds and cheating in the internet world today. All those endless ‘cheating’ schemes bore your day and as these artists become more and more sophisticated, chances are that you may give in into one of the frauds, thinking that it’s actually legitimate when it’s not.
Among the common phishing scams and patterns are:
1. Mimicked sites are created and you unwittingly submit personal information. (Spoofed Site)
Sometimes, redirection and link clicking from your email is dangerous especially when unsolicited emails are received. Never click on redirecting links. Should a bank address your concern, ring the bank or type the address manually on the address bar of your browser. Mimicked sites are sites which are copied by legitimate sites, then bluffs a redirected user into entering personal information.
2. Deceptive links/Camouflaged links.
Sometimes, a link can appear to be legitimate but unknown to the user as a camouflaged link. Meaning to say, what is written on the text that you read isn’t relevant with the site that you’ll be redirected to after clicking on the link. A pop-up then appears and links you to other websites or mimicked sites rather than the legitimate site which you think links you to.
3. Businesses asking you to reply by mail, requesting personal information.
All honest and professional businesses in this world will never require you to send personal information through an insecure manner – By instant messaging, email, unencrypted file, etc.
4. Masked/Direct linking.
A lot of professional businesses today do not do direct linking as a more protective manner to personal information. Disbelief all direct links to access your accounts or statement containing likes stating “Click here to access your account automatically”. Masked linking contains part or whole term of a particular company’s name to direct a user to click it, then the scam happens – The user is redirected to another site.
5. A very immediate response required.
Out of the blue, if you receive a message from any company saying, “Your account will be terminated within 24 hours if you do not respond to this immediately” or “The webmaster of site XXX is filtering inactive users. Reply immediately (within 24-48 hours) to confirm your active status”. There are many cases in which you can forget to verify your account or provide extra information to a service you requested before, but usually, professional businesses give more time for their busy consumers. Scammers might claim account compromise also.
6. An impersonal statement.
“Dear valued customer” or “Dearly beloved” or “Respected consumer” or “Hi all” are examples of general impersonal statements made by fraudsters during a scam scheme. Always take precautionary methods first before pursuing directions in the email.
7. Software release after direct linking.
An email may direct a user to click on a link, then later move to a site that releases unsolicited programs i.e. Trojans, spywares, malwares, keyword logging-wares, etc. These are dangerous applications as your personal information may be compromised. Worse, you may see tons of window pop-ups appearing non-stop on your computer portraying adult sites. Sometimes, it may come in a form of attachment – ‘files to download’, images like *.bmp images, and video files.
8. Pitiful cries for help, asking to join ‘legitimate’ non-profit organization.
Again, out of the blue, a ‘legitimate’ company sending an email would request you to join their online march for a cause or sign a petition, usually requesting you to fill in personal particulars for verification, contact or signature purposes. Check out the company first, and again, do not click on any redirected links.
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