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Papirex

Jan 8, 2012, 10:37 AM

Post #1 of 4 (1147 views)

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Phishing attempt

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I got an email this morning, purportedly from The Bank of America. It said several attempts had been made to access and use my Visa card, using several invalid passwords from several computers. It said to click on a link, and several personal questions needed to be answered or my card would be suspended in 48 hours. I immediately suspected it was a phishing attempt, but I tried to open it to see what it said. My browser would not open it, saying it was phishing mail.

I then called the Visa customer service number, which I intended to do anyway. The woman that I talked to, immediately said it sounded like a phishing attempt when I told her about the message. She asked me to forward the email to: abuse@visa.com I did that and almost immediately got a thank you email from Visa. A couple of hours later, I got another email from Visa. They said their research had proved that it was indeed a phishing attempt.

They gave me some unneeded advice, and offers to always keep my security programs up to date, along with their thanks.

There is so much unchecked fraud in México, that I never use any of my credit cards down here, but only occasionally when I buy something from NOB.

Be alert .

Rex
"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

(This post was edited by Papirex on Jan 8, 2012, 10:40 AM)

JuanCha

Jan 9, 2012, 8:47 PM

Post #2 of 4 (999 views)

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Re: [Papirex] Phishing attempt

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As you may know, "phishing" is not unique or confined to Mexico; most comes from USA , ex-Soviet nations, and China. I've been hit with bogus PayPal, Visa, Wells Fargo and others in the past, mostly in and from USA. Phishing is very easy to do; almost any amateur can do it credibly.

Whenever I see an email request to provide info, etc I just call the individual, institution or org involved (but I do NOT use any phone numbers included in suspect emails, unless I verify them via other means).

General precautions, do NOT: use bank names and locations, Social Security numbers, your birth date (any time I'm asked to provide my birth date, I do not use my actual one) in emails. Always be sure to always log out or sign out from websites (ESPECIALLY eBay, PayPal, Amazon, bank, etc). Avoid logging on to personal websites such as your bank, your eBay, your PayPal, etc from public or widely shared computers. Verify that the "Remember Me" box associated with LogIn and Password are unchecked on computers other than your own.

For credit card and bank transactions on the Internet (eBay, PayPal, Amazon, etc) I have a unique separate bank account which I only keep a minimum balance until I make a purchase/transaction, and then I only transfer the need amount into that account, when it is needed. I DO use that Visa debit card in Mexico; if lost or stolen the maximum exposure is what little balance I may have at any given time. I also inform my bank of where I am traveling to at any given time. My bank passwords are unique (I do not use them for anything else), and I change them periodically.

I teach computing classes and often hear "Well, I've doing XXX for years and have never had a problem" - a common excuse for many risky behaviors.
JuanCha de: Santa Fe NM, San Cristobal de Las Casas Chiapas, San Diego CA

La Isla

Jan 9, 2012, 9:42 PM

Post #3 of 4 (988 views)

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Re: [JuanCha] Phishing attempt

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While I was reading Papirex's post, I was thinking that in all likelihood, the source of the "phishing" attempt lay outside of Mexico. I wonder if we could add Nigeria to the list of countries that are the common sources of this kind of fraud.

cookj5

Jan 12, 2012, 6:00 PM

Post #4 of 4 (843 views)

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Re: [La Isla] Phishing attempt

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NIgeria? No way! I've been contacted by all sorts of nice people from there. They all seem to have some sort of banking problems that involves sending large amounts of money out of their country and they were nice enough to think of me as a source of a bank account to ship it to. After I sent them all my banking information, I've been waiting for some weeks to hear back. Sadly, I may not be able to help them because my account now suddenly has all sorts of weird charges on it and my bank forced me to close it. Oh,well..and they seemed like such nice people in their email. I hate to let them down.