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Large run of email account phishing

Date: 14 January 2009

Click here for printable version
In the last week there has been a large upsurge in phishing emails that seem to be mostly targeting ISP's and Universities, although there have been reports from commercial entities as well. The emails are simple text with no links. They all follow the same basic layout claiming that either due to "safety/maintainance" or "upgrade/beta testing" they require the end user fill in the requested details and email it back to them.

The return email addresses are usually on gmail.com, googlemail.com, hotmail.com or live.com domains.

Below are some examples that have been seen so far:

--

Dear [domain] Account User,

This Email is from [domain] help desk and we are sending it to every of ([domain]) User Accounts user for safety/maintainance from spam mails. And we are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of accounts so we are shutting down some accounts and your account was among those to be that needs to be re -updated due to this condition.

We are sending you this email so that you can verify and in order for safety and maintainance of your account.If you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the space below.Your User name,password,date of birth and your country information would be needed to verify your account.

* Username: (------------)(Compulsory)
* Password: (------------)(Compulsory)
* Date of Birth: (------------) (optional)
* Country Or Territory: (------------) (optional)

--

VERIFY YOUR [DOMAIN] EMAIL ACCOUNT NOW
Dear [DOMAIN] Email Account Owner,
This message is from [DOMAIN] messaging center to all [DOMAIN] email account owners. We are currently upgrading our data base and e-mail account center. We are deleting all unused [DOMAIN] email account to create more space for new accounts.
To prevent your account from closing you will have to update it below so that we will know that it's a present used account.
CONFIRM YOUR EMAIL IDENTITY BELOW
Email Username : -------------------
EMAIL Password : -------------------
Date of Birth : --------------------
Country : --------------------------
Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account within Seven days of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.
Thank you for using [DOMAIN]!
Account Alert Code:X3XX00178SU
Thanks,
[DOMAIN] Team
[DOMAIN] BETA

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