|
03-05-09
NYS
Consumer Protection Board Spotlights Phishing Scams at 2009
Top Frauds Conference in Manhattan
The New York State Consumer
Protection Board (CPB) spotlighted Phishing scams at the
2008 Top Consumer Frauds & Complaints Conference held in
New York City today. With these scams affecting both
consumers and businesses who continue to be targeted by
fraudsters, the CPB’s Internet/online services complaints
- - including reports about Phishing scams - - were on the
Agency’s Top Ten Major Complaints Listings in every
quarter of 2008.
Phishing e-mail messages,
the variations of which are sometimes referred to as
pharming or whaling, represent a common scheme
to trick people into sending money or providing personal
identifiable information such as names, address and phone
number in combination with date of birth, usernames,
passwords and/or credit card details, and even Social
Security numbers for the purpose of committing identity
theft and/or other crimes.
Phishing scams are on the
increase and adversely affect businesses of all types,
including retail establishments, banks and other financial
institutions, United States courts, the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
and other government Agencies, job search and social
networking sites and couriers, among others. The Anti-Phishing
Working Group (APWG), a global association focused on
eliminating the fraud and identity theft resulting from
Phishing and other scams, reported that there was a
dramatic rise in Phishing in the second quarter of 2008.
Specially, the number of Phishing or (as they refer to it)
crimeware-spreading URLs detected by APWG
rose to a record 9,529 in June 2008, representing an
increase of nearly 47% from the previous record of 6,500
in March of the same year. Comparing the 2nd
quarter statistics from 2007 to 2008, the report shows a
rise of 258% in documented Phishing attacks.
“Con artists and scammers
continue to perfect their schemes to hijack personal
identifiable information which they can then use to
perpetrate identity theft,” said Mindy A. Bockstein,
Chairperson and Executive Director of the CPB. “Scammers
are enjoying more success, especially during the economic
downturn which has left consumers searching for potential
‘quick fixes’ to their monetary woes. The CPB is working
to help identify these scams, collaborate with businesses
who have been victimized by them, and assist consumers
who’ve been caught in the scammers’ Phishing nets.”
The CPB revealed at the
Conference that it had joined forces with McDonald’s USA
to alert consumers to a Phishing scam which used the name
recognition of McDonald’s to take advantage of consumers.
Both McDonald’s and the CPB had been contacted by
concerned customers who received an e-mail containing a
fraudulent offer to credit their bank account with $75 or
$80 in exchange for participation in a survey which
required disclosure of personal identifiable information.
As is typical with Phishing scams, the e-mail looks
legitimate, and even includes a copyright symbol
attributed to McDonald’s. The CPB and McDonalds urged
consumers who received this e-mail not to respond, and
McDonalds posted a warning to consumers on its website
regarding the scam.
The CPB was also advised of a
Phishing scam in which Walgreens was targeted by scammers
who created an online survey taking customers to a bogus
website that mined their personal information. The e-mail
congratulated customers on being selected for an “easy 9
questions survey” and offered $90.00 which would have
allegedly been credited to the consumer’s account for
participation. Upon learning of the scam, the CPB contacted
Walgreens, which took immediate action to protect its
customers. Working together, the data mining site was taken
down in a matter of days.
Michael Polzin, Walgreens
Director of External Communications, said, “Walgreens prides
itself on its integrity and service to consumers. With the
Consumer Protection Board helping us determine the extent of
the scam using our name to perpetrate fraud, we took
immediate action to have the phony website dismantled and to
stop the scam from going further.”
In late 2007, PC World
conveyed that a survey conducted by YouGov found that 42% of
the nearly 2000 United Kingdom respondents stated that
“their trust in a brand would be damaged by a Phishing
attack, even though the scam had nothing to do with it.”
Ted Potrikus, Executive Vice
President and Director of Government Relations, of the
Retail Council of New York State, who serves as the voice
for the retail industry by taking members’ concerns and
ideas directly to New York State’s Governor and to the CPB
said, "A Phishing scam can be particularly destructive to
the hard work retailers invest to establish and protect
their good names. Governor Paterson and the Consumer
Protection Board recognize Phishing as a scam so
sophisticated and costly to retailers and the customers who
trust us, and the Retail Council appreciates that the CPB
works so closely with us to stop this and all consumer scams
in their tracks whenever detected and reported.
Unfortunately, Phishing is just one scam that makes a victim
of the retail industry, and we're grateful to Governor
Paterson, Mindy Bockstein, the New York City DCA, and all
the agencies here today that work hard to raise awareness
and help honest businesses stay in business throughout New
York."
The rise in complaints
received at the CPB as well as the documented national trend
highlight the need for vigilance and action. The CPB’s key
Phishing Scam Prevention Tips include the
following:
Consumers should not:
·
Respond to e-mails, mail, telephone
solicitations, raffles or contests from unknown entities.
·
Answer e-mail warnings that have “undisclosed
recipients” in the address line, a blank space next to
“Dear,” numerous spelling errors, and/or awkward English.
·
E-mail personal or financial information
including credit card or bank account numbers, passwords,
Social Security numbers, etc. Most Internet e-mail is NOT
secure.
·
Be fooled by legitimate-looking e-mails even
if they contain logos, pictures, copyrights or names of
legitimate businesses.
Consumers should:
·
Install, update and use
anti-virus and anti-spyware software, as well as firewalls
to help reduce the number of Phishing e-mails received.
Firewalls are especially important with broadband
connections as computers are open to the Internet whenever
they’re turned on. Go to
www.onguardonline.gov or
www.staysafeonline.org to learn
more about how to keep your computer secure.
·
Review financial
account statements as soon as they are received to check for
unauthorized charges and check credit reports regularly.
This can be done free of charge three times a year through
the three reporting agencies found online at
www.annualcreditreport.com.
·
Use caution when opening any attachment or
downloading any files from e-mails received even from known
sources, to avoid the possibility of infecting computers
with viruses, malware, spyware or other software designed to
impair your computer’s security.
Under New York State Law, New
York State, the Anti-Phishing Act of 2006 businesses or
governmental entities impacted by Phishing, may have
recourse. The Act states that “any person who either is
engaged in providing Internet access service to the public
or owns a web page or trademark who is adversely affected”
by a Phishing violation may be entitled to “recover the
greater of: (A) actual damages; or (B) one thousand dollars
for each instance in which identifying information is
solicited, requested or collected from a person in violation
of the provisions of subdivision three of this section.” The
court may award further damages and/or costs and reasonable
attorney's fees to the prevailing party.
The remainder of the
CPB’s Phishing Scam Prevention Tips as well as
our Spotlight on Phishing Scams, Business
Privacy Guide and other resources are available on the CPB’s
website at
www.nysconsumer.gov. Reports of
the McDonald’s or Walgreen’s Phishing scams may be directed
to the CPB using the online form found at
http://www.nysconsumer.gov/complaint.htm
or to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at
www.ftc.gov.
Consumers are urged to
act immediately if they have provided personal identifiable
information to unknown or unverified parties by notifying
the companies with whom they have the accounts and by
placing a security freeze or fraud alert on their files at
credit reporting bureaus. Suspected Phishing scams should be
reported to the FTC at
spam@uce.gov, to the CPB by
filling out the complaint form on the homepage at
www.nysconsumer.gov, and to the
institution or company targeted in the Phishing e-mail.
Phishing scam e-mails may also be reported to the Anti-Phishing
Working Group at
reportphishing@antiphishing.org.
During National Consumer
Protection Week which runs from March 1 – 7, 2009, the CPB
joined with the Better Business Bureau Serving Metropolitan
New York, the Federal Trade Commission’s Northeast Regional
Office, the New York State Attorney General, the New York
City Department of Consumer Affairs, and AARP to alert New
York consumers to the top consumer complaints of the past
year and to educate them on how to avoid becoming victims in
2009.
The NYS CPB, established in
1970 by the New York State Legislature, is the State's top
consumer watchdog and think tank. The CPB's core mission is
to protect New Yorkers by publicizing unscrupulous and
questionable business practices and product recalls;
conducting investigations and hearings; enforcing the Do Not
Call law; researching issues; developing legislation;
creating consumer education programs and materials;
responding to individual marketplace complaints by securing
voluntary agreements; and, representing the interests of
consumers before the PSC and other State and federal
agencies.
To file a consumer
complaint with the CPB, call our toll-free hotline at
800-697-1220 or visit the CPB’s website at
www.nysconsumer.gov. In addition
to the online complaint form, the website is home to
important consumer safety information and resources.
02-10-09
|
Copyright © 2004 - 09
The Mount
Vernon Inquirer.
All Rights Reserved
Any
copying, redistribution or retransmission of any of the contents of
this service without the express written consent of The Inquirer
Media Group is expressly prohibited.
|
|
