[Air-l] Re poor spam scam targetting

Brendan Riley, Ph.D. briley at colum.edu
Sat Dec 4 08:08:07 PST 2004


Authorities in the US are calling this scam "phishing."  I guess it's a 
play on the word _fishing_, but I doubt it has anything to do with the 
band. :)

A friend of mine manages a branch of one of the big national banks, and 
he says these are a huge problem--many people aren't so suspicious yet. 
  He told me of one woman who DID register her password and, within 
minutes, had her entire account emptied and, interestingly, her home 
equity credit line maxed out.  Yikes.

It seems like these emails play on peoples' insecurities about the 
Internet as a whole.  While more savvy users spot these requests as 
fraud, for others, they play on fears that are already there--namely 
that "my online account has been compromised and people are one the 
verge of stealing my savings!"

Best,
Brendan

-- 
Brendan Riley, Ph.D.
Faculty, English Department
Columbia College Chicago
33 East Congress
Chicago, IL 60605

Ph: 312.344.8817
Fx: 312.344.8001

briley at colum.edu
http://www.curragh-labs.org/



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