Wardy
NSC's Benefits Guru
Just received this at work thought you might like to know
Trading Standards "cyber-crime" warning.
Trading Standards are warning internet users to be aware of the growing danger of "spoof" emails, which are being used by fraudsters attempting to obtain personal information such as bank account details, and passwords
The people who send these e-mails will claim to be from a bank, or a popular Internet website, such as an auction site. They will ask for sensitive information to be sent via a link to a website specially designed to make the user believe they are dealing with a legitimate business. In fact they will be passing their details to the fraudsters.
In recent months financial institutions including the Bank of England, Nationwide Building Society and the auction site E-bay, have been targeted in this way. It is believed that the fraudsters pick an organisation and guess at customers' email addresses. They then send out a large number of random spoof mails supposedly from the targeted business to unsuspecting victims.
The advice from Trading Standards is:
Recipients of such emails should not reply to the sender.
Never pass your details directly to the sender by way of a link. The replica sites and email addresses will look as if they come from the legitimate business, so always go directly to the proper website address and sign-on there rather than communicate by email, or using the link to a website within the e-mail.
The financial institutions and major internet businesses are well aware of this criminal activity and therefore will not request confidential, or security information by e-mail.
If you believe you may already have passed on sensitive information, contact the organisation directly from the contact links within their official website, in order to change your password details, and notify them that your security data may have been inadvertently passed on. The businesses targeted in this way will usually post advice to customers on their official website, and give details of an e-mail address to which the fraudulent email should be forwarded to.
Trading Standards "cyber-crime" warning.
Trading Standards are warning internet users to be aware of the growing danger of "spoof" emails, which are being used by fraudsters attempting to obtain personal information such as bank account details, and passwords
The people who send these e-mails will claim to be from a bank, or a popular Internet website, such as an auction site. They will ask for sensitive information to be sent via a link to a website specially designed to make the user believe they are dealing with a legitimate business. In fact they will be passing their details to the fraudsters.
In recent months financial institutions including the Bank of England, Nationwide Building Society and the auction site E-bay, have been targeted in this way. It is believed that the fraudsters pick an organisation and guess at customers' email addresses. They then send out a large number of random spoof mails supposedly from the targeted business to unsuspecting victims.
The advice from Trading Standards is:
Recipients of such emails should not reply to the sender.
Never pass your details directly to the sender by way of a link. The replica sites and email addresses will look as if they come from the legitimate business, so always go directly to the proper website address and sign-on there rather than communicate by email, or using the link to a website within the e-mail.
The financial institutions and major internet businesses are well aware of this criminal activity and therefore will not request confidential, or security information by e-mail.
If you believe you may already have passed on sensitive information, contact the organisation directly from the contact links within their official website, in order to change your password details, and notify them that your security data may have been inadvertently passed on. The businesses targeted in this way will usually post advice to customers on their official website, and give details of an e-mail address to which the fraudulent email should be forwarded to.