New milestones in phishing

[jducoeur]

Just got this link going around at work, which nicely illustrates how careful you have to be with online solicitations.

We're all used to phishing emails that pretend to be from legitimate banks in order to get your personal information, but this one takes it to a whole new level: a company that set itself up with all the accoutrements of a real credit union, including its own website and toll-free number -- but didn't exist. The entire company was nothing but one big phishing scam, encouraging you to sign up for accounts simply so they could steal your information. Very, very special...

Comments

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's...amusing.

[dlevey.livejournal.com]

Didn't someone do the same thing (along with hiring people, and a storefront) to highlight how social engineering is the weakest link? I want to say that Microsoft did it, and made a commercial about it, but I can't remember.

[jducoeur]

Yes, I remember that commercial. Don't remember who did it, but I think it was one of the security vendors. (Could have been Microsoft, Symantec, McAfee or any of a host of others.) I did find myself wondering if that ad was the inspiration for this particular scam...

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Doing this in the physical world is known as The Big Store.

[gyzki.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I'm most surprised it hasn't happened before. Of course, maybe it has - I'm surprised I haven't heard about it happening before.