Google phishing scam promises a $400 windfall

Fraudsters are using a promise of a $400 prize from Google as bait in a new phishing scam aimed at stealing credit card data, a security expert has warned.

A fake copy of the Google Web site hosted on a server in the U.S. displays the message: "You WON $400.00 !!!", security monitoring company Websense said in an alert Tuesday. To collect their prize, "winners" are asked to click on to a second page that asks them for their credit card details and address, Websense said.

The fraudulent Web site was advertised in a spammed e-mail message, Websense said. The San Diego-based company's Websense Security Labs has an automated system that scans the Web for malicious sites and sells a product to protect customers against those threats. As with all phishing scams, Internet users in general can protect themselves by being cautious with e-mail and not following links in spammed messages.

Phishing is a persistent problem, but coordinators in the fight against the schemes recently said their efforts appear to be paying off. A total of 5,259 phishing sites were spotted in August, up substantially from 4,564 in July, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group. At the same time, the number of spam e-mail campaigns to lure people to phishing sites decreased for the second month in a row, the APWG said.

Scammers have used Google's well-known name before in their schemes. For example, in September a malicious program was discovered that redirected users into clicking on phony search results on fake Google, Yahoo and MSN sites.

[Dachi]

I was countin on dat 400 dolla

I blew $300 on a strippa and sum 40's thinkin I would fo' sho' see dat mad loot. Dat **** is whack. I gunna hire me a lawya and sue them Google folk.

[justgold79]

What

Fo' shizzle.

Check gizoogle.com, g.


http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fo'+shizzle+my+nizzle

[petacos]

I have to respond to this butchered English post

Maybe you learned a lesson? Dont click links inside emails. While your learning so much today, why not pick up a dictionary and learn the propper use of the english language. Maybe then, we might be able to understand you without reading it 5 times. And dont count on the hookers money to be comming back to you from google, the courts dont generally reward stupidity... :(

[n3td3v]

Joris, you gotta be faster than me ;-)

http://www.digg.com/security/Google_phishing_threat_hits_web I pushed this out on Digg hours before you. See, thats the growing threat to big news orgs and sites like Digg. News is being pushed out alot faster, in real-time. Whereas, it takes news orgs ages to research and phone people up and stuff, before you post stuff up. Thats why I think Cnet should have a seperate section, where breaking news goes. Thats stuff with a really short description/ write up. Like the guys at Securityfocus are starting to do with their "News Brief" on the homepage, inbetween Robert Lemos's professional write-up's. Just an idea, bye.