Phishers wheel out their latest scam; the little old lady
Ebayers are being targeted by a new phishing scam designed to appeal to their better natures.
Ebayers should be beware of a new phishing scam that masquerades as a message from a disabled little old lady. According to experts at SophosLabs, the latest campaign centres around a plea for help allegedly from an 87-year old woman who is having difficulty using the popular eBay auction website. However, if recipients respond, they risk passing their confidential login details and password to a criminal gang. The unsolicited emails, which claim to come via eBay, from "Greta", say she placed a bid for a wheelchair, but can no longer find the online auction. People receiving this spoof email are asked to click on the "Respond now" button to answer the lady's question. However, doing so takes the user to a bogus website pretending to be eBay where their login names and passwords will be stolen. Sophos believes that some users may think the email is genuine and fall for this latest scam. "This phishing attack is targeting Good Samaritans, who will think they are helping an elderly lady with her online auction. Even if people click on the link to reply that they are unable to help, they are handing their confidential login details to hackers. "Everyone should exercise caution when dealing with unsolicited and unexpected email, and ensure they have a consolidated anti-spam and anti-spyware solution in place," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. The text of the email reads as follows: Hello, I recently placed a bid on item#5600846099 being a wheelchair for me that i really need do to my age(87 years old) and it seems that i can not find the auction anymore... May i please know if you are the seller of the item above? Regards, Greta.
Reproduced from an article published by Computer Active
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