Like Phishing?? Did I tell about the one that got away? Oh, wait, wrong phish!!
Over the past few months there has been a huge uptick in ransomware and identity theft issues.
Most of my clients know to send me something if it looks phishy (you did get the pun?)
Tonight was an exceptionally well programmed attack disguised as an Apple receipt for the iCloud.
The first line read from my client: “I thought it was only .99 cents!” – My client was quite upset.
The screenshot attached shows the near lookalike of an Apple receipt.
At the bottom of the email is a link to “Cancel Your Receipt”
I clicked it to see where it would take me.
What came up next is an obvious fake, at least to me.
The URL was some long fake one, but they had programmed it so that it would take you to the next phishing screen after you put in your email and password.
Here’s the URL that was obviously fake:
At the bottom, they forgot how to spell APPLE….three p’s are a dead giveaway, unless you are panicked from such an exorbitant amount that you are being billed and might not be paying attention!
So I played along and of course entered entirely fake information with expletives coded into names…
I never use a real one, my phone number is always (800) 867-5309. (I know some of you just sang that in your head..Jenny)
The next screen that was programmed to phish for even more information. It asked for a birthdate, credit information and an SSN.
Often these attacks can net the scammer a few passwords, emails, SSNs, and birthdates, which when combined, can be used to thieve an identity. I saw that this was shut down rather quickly BUT in the time it took to get it shut down, how many put that information into the scammer’s database?
If you get anything that you are not sure of, whether it’s an attachment in an email or in this case an email that looks suspicious, feel free to send it on over. I am happy to check it out.
My client was suspicious and I was grateful to be of service!!
You are the BEST, Scott. My life has changed quite a bit because of Dick’s dementia which is progressing. I now have part time help for him. I will be even more careful for bad e-mails after reading all of the above. So far, I’m hanging in there. We leave for Colorado tomorrow, so I will miss your closeness, but will keep in touch, otherwise. Have a great summer, Nancy