What Is Bank Phishing?
Today bank phishing scams are becoming ever more sophisticated. In recent months, phishers have been able to gain access using a genuine domain name to set up a website which people are then going to because they believe it to be a real bank.
One such phishing site that has been set up in recent months has been using the domain name www.commonwealth-security.com. Through this site, the phishers or scammers have been trying to get people to visit their site because they think it actually is part of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Then once a person gains access to this site, and if they already hold an account with this particular bank, they are then requested to update their bank account details. Unfortunately although this site was traced back to a host site called www.comcast.net, they probably did not know that the site they were hosting was actually illegitimate.
Above is one way in which scams have been set up in order for these fraudsters to gain a person’s personal bank account information, but there are plenty of other phishing scams that are being used to the same effect.
In another phishing scam relating to banks, an email will be sent to the bank's clients which they think is from the bank. It then asks them to verify their phone number with them and they are asked to call a specific telephone number. However what the customer does not realize is that as soon as they call the number they are then redirected to a number in another country. Once connected to the number the scammer now has access to all incoming calls to that person’s phone and the victim will not realize anything has occurred until they find that their phone service becomes suspended. Plus using this method the scammer is also able to contact the person back to inform them that their account details have been verified which makes the scam seem even more legitimate. Another kind of bank phishing scam that is beginning to take place on the internet today is one where the person receives an email that is purportedly from their bank. In this email they will then be requested by the scammer to fill in a section relating to certain personal information. Normally in this section of the email, they will request the person to provide details such as their social security number, their bank account or credit card numbers. Once the scammer has this information they can then begin to start purchasing goods for themselves on a fraudulent basis. The victim will be none the wiser as to what is occurring until they receive their bank or credit card statements or they find that they are unable to get a loan as their credit rating has been badly effected.
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