In keeping with current classroom discussion, I found an interesting article on a phishing scam currently taking place in Australia. It seems that phishers are taking advantage of people’s eagerness to get something for nothing. According to the email pictured below, loyal Apple customers have the option to purchase AU$100 of in-store credit for just AU$9. After searching through multiple articles, there is no word on how the email addresses were obtained by the phishers. However, given Apples popularity, it is a good bet that a large number of recipients have purchased an Apple product.
It is not clear as to whether the victims are actually charged the $9, but they are definitely affected by the scam. The email contains an attachment titled, “Apple Discount - Complete this form to get your discount.html. “ This form asks for a variety of personal information, including “your name, your address, date of birth, driver's license, your mother's maiden name, and credit card information." The credit card information portion of the form is quite expansive. In addition to the normal requests, the phishers ask for the cards “security code, what password you use for Verified by Visa / MasterCard SecureCode and even (rather cheekily) your credit limit!” The email is very neat and concise and free from common errors made in less sophisticated phishing emails. However, people should always be aware that they will never be asked for such personal information from any business. Apple has announced that they have nothing to do with this. Hopefully soon there will be more information on the number of people affected by this.
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| image courtesy nakedsecurity.sophos.com |
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