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April 28, 2006
Amex: the card phishers prefer?
This looks pretty scary. American Express has warned US customers about the mysterious appearance on its secure Web site of a pop-up dialogue box inviting customers to disclose their Social Security number, mother’s maiden name, and date of birth ... you know, the sort of information that phishers would find very helpful indeed.
Amex describes it as a "hoax", which seems to be an understatement. They suggest it's a virus, and point customers to some not particularly helpful advice. If it is a virus, it's a particularly alarming one. But we haven't seen any reports that such a virus is on the loose, let alone any evidence that anti-virus definitions are picking it up. We'd suggest you take particular care on any financial sites.
Posted by cw at April 28, 2006 03:31 PM
Comments
Quote: Contact your computer operating system or ISP for additional information on security patches.
That is some mighty useful information! I wonder how you do that?
cheers, Paul
Posted by: Paul at April 28, 2006 08:11 PM
Since when was handing out or carrying one's social security number, or even having one at all, an integral part of everyday life here in Chez Aus? (Query: relevance.) (Or...) It's unbelievable that anyone could fall for something that has no cultural or beaureaucratic significance in this country. What special combination of stupidity and naivete is required to fall for a scam that is not even socially engineered for the culture the victims live in?
Truely, the mind boggles.
Posted by: Ablaze at April 29, 2006 02:24 AM
Umm. You don't think, Ablaze, that if a virus like that exists, it would be very simple to tailor one that fits other countries. Europe, the UK, Australia, etc? I do. I guess that makes me naive.
Posted by: cw at April 29, 2006 09:40 PM