Best Technology Article: Fraudulent phishing emails: as sophisticated cybercriminals are

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Fraudulent phishing emails: as sophisticated cybercriminals are – Yahoo! News

The sending of phishing emails to careless citizens still lucrative business for internet fraudsters. But the tactic to rake in as much money as possible, changes. Volatile drafted emails in bad Dutch make room for neat-looking documents.

And scammers often hide behind the names of large companies and trusted sources. ‘Banks’ asking for personal information, account numbers and PINs. Which of course does not exist. And know that most Dutch meantime, they say at FIU Fraudehelpdesk.nl. That’s because of education campaigns and tough response from the banks at the spoof sites referenced in the e-mails.

While the people learn from their mistakes of the past, criminals are becoming more sophisticated. They send emails in flawless Dutch on behalf of the Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB), the Dutch Railways, the tax authorities and large companies.

Expensive SMS subscription
> In those fake emails, people are forced to pay are offers made, or promised them that they have won a prize. “Congratulations, you have won a gift certificate worth 500 euros!” Citizens must therefore fill in forms (“Something we always advise against), calling a special number or text messages. The scammers try with a false sender to extort money from people or confidential information to loosen. Other consumers get stuck with an expensive SMS subscription.

Tip of the iceberg
Incidentally, the fake emails from banks are still frequent in circulation, highlights the hotline . Which last year received 123 000 reports of fake emails, from 104 000 a year earlier. The reports are only the tip of the iceberg: every year millions of scammers send fake emails. This year expect the Fraud Helpdesk again a sharp increase in the number of reports, to a total of at least 150 000

The most abused businesses and agencies:.