[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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