‘First $1m phishing fraud’ hits inboxes

A new attack on online banking customers looks set to become the world’s first million-dollar phishing fraud, according to Internet intelligence specialists Envisional. The criminals behind this assault have come up with a new way to con bank customers into revealing passwords and log-in details – through colourful emails offering the chance to win $100,000 or an all-inclusive Las Vegas holiday package and claiming to be from Visa, Mastercard and American Express. Most “phishing” attacks come in the form of spam emails addressed to customers of a particular bank and catch a few dozen people. The new approach threatens to trap many more customers, because it uses a single email to target online account holders with any one of 12 major banks, and persuades the victim to help the process along by selecting the right bank from a... [read full story]