Email, to be AOL asserts that, due to a failure in processing of payments, the recipient's AOL service will be blocked unless he or she updates payment details within 24 hours, following a link in the message.
Brief analysis
The email is not from the AOL. actually, the message is a phishing scam designed to trick recipients to provide personal and financial information private for Internet criminals.
A detailed analysis and references below example.
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Last update: 30 June 2010.
First published: 30 June 2010.
Article written by Brett m. Christensen
About Brett Christensen and killer hoax
ExampleSubject: AOL your account will be locked
Billing information
Dear member of AOL,
Come to our attension that their information AOL records are outdated. unable to process your payment later.
You recently changed your bank, phone number or credit card?To ensure that your service will not be interrupted, please update your billing information now by visiting the new system of small company of AOL.
[Link to the fake site removed]
PLEASE NOTE THAT FAILURE TO VERIFY YOUR RECORDS WILL RESULT IN ACCOUNT SUSPENSION.
Sincerely, Member of the AOL Services Team P.S. the link this massage will expire within 24 hours.You must update your payment information before that time.
Screenshot of AOL phishing email scam
Detailed analysis
This email, you want to be of major Internet service provider, AOL, alleges that AOL recipient's account is about to be blocked due to a problem of payment processing.E-mail claims that the customer's billing information seem outdated, and he or she is required to update this information within 24 hours.The recipient is asked to click a link in the email to visit the site of AOL and provide the requested information.
However, e-mail is not from AOL and the claim that the recipient must update the information or the risk of blocking of his or her account is a lie. actually, email is a phishing scam designed to steal personal and financial information of clients from AOL. those who follow the link in the message will be taken to a fake site that asks for information such as credit card numbers, banking information and name, contact and address details. all information entered into the form on the fake website can be collected by cyber criminals and used to commit the credit card and other financial fraud and identity theft.
To trick victims into believing that the allegations of the message are true, the fake site is designed to resemble a legitimate page AOL billing. as shown in the image above, the scam email itself is also designed to appear as a legitimate message from AOL and includes seemingly genuine AOL graphics, logos and copyright notices. phishing Scammers usually steal up graphics and logos of its genuine website for use on their fake Web sites and in your emails target company scam. they also use the same fonts, formatting of styles and colors that uses the target organization. However, scam emails often can be identified by poor spelling and grammar ("has come to our attension", "link this massage will expire") and a reasonable sense of urgency.
In fact, Internet users should be very wary of any email that claims that they urgently need to provide personal or financial information private, by following a link in the message or open a file attached. legitimate companies or financial institutions are very unlikely to request this information via an unsolicited e-mail. any such request messages should be treated with suspicion. Not login to your accounts online, by clicking a link in an unsolicited email is much safer to visit your account page by typing the Web address in the address bar of your browser. Furthermore, by logging into your account, always ensure that the page is a secure site (https). no legitimate service provider will never ask for login or other personal information via an unsecure (http instead of https) Web page. If you are accessing a secure page (https), a "lock" icon should be displayed in the status bar of your browser or in the address field.
Criminals from around the world continue to use the phishing as a means to steal money and personal information from unsuspecting Internet users. it is important that Internet users take the time to educate themselves and their friends and family about this type of fraud. Such scam attempts can be easily recognised by Internet users who came forward as such schemes operate and know what signs to look for in e-mails from potential fraud.
References
Difference between http & https
Phishing Scams-information anti-Phishing
First published: 30 June 2010.
Article written by Brett m. Christensen
About Brett Christensen and killer hoax
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