Week in review 6 February 2015
PayPal started the week, and Apple finished it. In between, we had Kiwi Bank and another Apple phishing email. Read on to see our week in review. As always, you can click the link of any of the items posted below to take a look at the screenshots and the accompanying story.
Account frozen PayPal phishing email says
Yet another PayPal phishing email started hitting our filters this week. In this email your account has been frozen. Therefore, you need to click on a link and provide your PayPal details. The reason given for your PayPal account being frozen is that PayPal has detected access from an unknown device. Details that are required to confirm your account are PayPal login credentials and bank account details. Once again, this is a phishing email.
New notice says Kiwi Bank phishing email
This week we had a flood of emails targeting Kiwi Bank users, all using the same format. The email informs the recipient that they have a new message, and to login to access the message. It’s actually a pretty restrained type of phishing email (if a phishing email can ever be described as restrained). It’s not actually telling the user they have to do anything urgently; in fact it’s not telling the user much at all. In fact, it’s almost a laid back sort of phishing email. However it is a fake, and will take you to a phishing site.
Check Apple ID phishing email tells recipients
Sort out your Apple ID, or you won’t be allowed to use it. The most interesting aspect of this phishing email was the alignment of the words “your account informations”. Take a look at the screenshot and you’ll see what we mean. Three uses of the phrase, and they almost line up. Almost looks like the creator of the phishing email intended the body of the email to be some sort of poem. The real intention though of the email is to lure the user to a phishing site, where their login details can be stolen.
iTunes Phishing email threatens destruction
Not of the world, fortunately. This time you need to sort out your iTunes account, or else. The or else in this case is your Apple ID being destroyed. Serious stuff. This email is actually unusual in another sense. The links contained in the email actually link the entire email to a phishing site. This is probably an attempt by the criminals to lure people to the site via an accidental mouse click.
Scott Reeves
MailShark
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