For those that don't know this practice of a scammer sending out
what looks like a real email / web-address asking for your information
is now called PHISHING.

I get about 2 or 3 per month - usually from banks I have never dealt with.
Today I got one from Washington Mutual. I have my mortgage there but it
referred to my nonexistent bank accounts with them. Ebay and Paypal are two
others that are popular with the "phishers".

While most of these companies would never email you for personal information, I
find it interesting that when I mouse over a link that says "www.citibank.com"
Netscape shows it directed to something like "180.22.130".

Dan

Harry Krause wrote:

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

Don't be taken in by an email that reads like the following. It is a
scam, aimed at obtaining your credit card financial information:


Dear Amazon User,

During our regular update and verification of the accounts, we could not
verify your current information. Either your information has changed or
it is incomplete.

As a result, your access to buy on Amazon has been restricted. To
continue using your Amazon account again, please update and verify your
information by clicking the link below :




(I cut the URL for obvious reasons)

Thank you very much for your cooperation!

Amazon Customer Support

Please note: This e-mail message was sent from a notification-only
address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. Please do not reply to this
message.

Thanks again for shopping with us.

Amazon.com
Earth's Biggest Selection

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've seen emails like this before (many of us have, I am sure), but this
is the first scam like this I've seen that incorporates Amazon. I sent a
copy to security@amazon and received the following:



Thank you for writing to us. No, the attached mail is not legitimate at
all--it is a phishing scam. Type
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/4060771
into your browser to find out more about what we are doing to combat
phishing.

Thank you,
Dominique Brezinski
Amazon.com Security

"Harry Krause" wrote in message

....................................

I've received a few from banks where I've never had accounts...and from
places where I do. They usually do incorporate genuine graphics elements
from the real sites, as you mentioned. No real vendor where you've
registered is likely to send you an email asking for your personal
information. At worst, when you log onto the vendor's legit site, you
might be told that info you have on file is out of date, or when you
place an order, you might get an indicator that your info is out of
date...

I gotten them from Citibank and Yahoo. The one from Yahoo was so amateur
that it looked like a grade school kid made it up.

I recently posted an ad to sell an old RV. I immediately received two
responses from the new "Nigerian" scam...

Writing me, supposedly from the UK, they appear all hot and bothered to buy,
then offer to send a certified check for the purchase. The check is for
thousands more than the purchase price, the difference of which you are
supposed to wire to them. Later, when the phony certified check bounces,
the victim has lost the money they "refunded." In some cases, they have a
partner in the US, who picks up the item. In that case, you've lost both
the money and the item for sale.

Unc