Mission Creek

from usatoday.com

Here is another story about a new twist on ‘phising.’

BOSTON — Internet con artists are turning to an old tool — the phone — to keep tricking Web users who have learned not to click on links in unsolicited e-mails.

A batch of e-mails recently making the rounds were crafted to appear as if they came from PayPal, eBay’s online payment service. Like traditional phony “phishing” e-mails, these said there was some problem with the recipients’ accounts.

Phishing e-mails generally instruct recipients to click a link in the e-mail to confirm their personal information; the link actually connects to a bogus site where the data are stolen.

But with Internet users wiser about phishing, the new fake PayPal e-mail included no such link. Instead it told users to call a number, where an automated answering service asked for account information.

Security experts tracking this scam and other instances of “vishing” — short for “voice phishing” — say the frauds are particularly nefarious because they mimic the legitimate ways people interact with financial institutions.

full story here