Three Strikes to Latest Phishing Scam

We unceasingly monitor and combat old and emerging web threats, taking different approaches to best protect our customers. Cybercriminals continuously look for new ways to steal valuable information. A recent phishing scam we’ve seen impersonates three popular institutions: PayPal, Bank of America, and free offers to check your credit score.

The recent attack on Bank of America users is arriving as spam email with a phishing link alerting users about an “account deactivation.” The scam claims online banking security regulations require users to click on the provided URL. Don’t fall for this tactic. Clicking the link “RESOLVE” redirects you to a malicious site.

A similar situation occurs with the scam a “security problem” with your PayPal account. The URL redirects victims to a fake page that is visible at the main domain. These malicious pages use the same graphics, style sheets, and links from genuine pages.

Would you trust an unsolicited email that offers to check your credit score for free? It looks authentic, but definitely is not. It’s always much safer to manually type the web address you like to visit instead of clicking a link from a suspicious email. If you receive one of these emails, do not click on the links. Users without protection who click on these links will possibly infect their computers or might reveal their data.

Remember to keep your anti-virus software up to date, and do not provide any personal or financial information to unsolicited email messages. Last year 11.1 million people were victims of identity theft in the United States; an identity is stolen every three seconds. Cybercriminals aggressively pursue unprotected users. Learn how to prevent identity theft at our McAfee Identity Protection page.