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SINGAPORE : Two banks have been the targets of the latest phishing scam.
Emails purportedly from Citibank and OCBC Bank asked recipients for their personal data in order to verify their accounts, saying that unless this is done, access to their accounts will be denied.
When 34-year-old housewife Sylvia Kong, an OCBC customer and ex-banker, first saw the email, she suspected something was amiss.
She forwarded the email to MediaCorp.
"I thought that people that are at their desk receiving emails are probably unaware and unsuspecting. They probably think it was an authentic email from the bank. And the only thing I wanted to do was alert as many people as possible," said Sylvia Kong.
And she is not the only customer to be affected.
Other OCBC and Citibank customers as well as members of the public have also called to notify the banks.
OCBC Bank has issued a media release to advise the recipients to ignore the email.
It says it is not the bank's practice to conduct random security verification checks on customers.
It adds that it does not send emails requesting customers to provide their passwords, PIN or confidential information via hyperlinks, redirection links within an email or on a third party website.
OCBC says the fraudulent site is hosted in China and it has enlisted Chinese authorities in shutting it down.
The bank says the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Singapore Computer Emergency Response Team have been informed.
Citibank was alerted to the phishing on Monday and had closed down the scam websites.
It says so far, none of its customers have suffered any financial loss as a result of this phishing attempt.
But however well banks and companies protect themselves, it is a struggle to keep one step ahead of the criminals.
One anti-virus software company is well aware of how creative criminals keep computer security companies busy, especially with emerging technology like making calls over the internet or VOIP.
"The whole world is moving over to VOIP. As long as we continue to move over to VOIP, it makes it easier to hide the identity of the malicious user. So this will promote greater activity in that area," said Leonard Sim, a technical consultant with Trend Micro.
And as the internet becomes ingrained in everyday life, both at work and at home, staying safe online has become a challenge.
Phishing is a crimeware technique to steal the identity of a target organisation in order to get the identities of its customers.
This is usually done by using professional-looking, HTML-based e-mails that include company logos, font styles, colours, graphics and other elements to spoof the supposed sender.
Most contain a link to a website, which is an exact replica of the spoofed site, to lure users into parting with their personal information.
Trend Micro has also issued a warning against spy-phishing, which uses the phishing technique as well as spyware programmes to target online banks and other password-driven sites.
The internet security company sees spy-phishing as the next step for phishers and spyware authors who want to steal money and personal information from users.
Some do this by creating programmes to steal credit card numbers, account log-ins or a variety of other types of personal information.
- CNA /ls
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