Bank buyouts trigger new phishing scams

The recent banking crisis has proved a boon for phishers

Security experts are warning users to be on the lookout for a new round of spam attacks playing off of the recent banking crisis.

The US Computer Emergency Response Team (US-Cert) highlighted new spam messages purporting to be from popular banks.

The warnings come after the recent economic crisis pushed several major banks into the hands of new owners.

The rash of buyouts left some consumers puzzled as to the company now operating their banks, and phishers have capitalised on this confusion.

Phishers commonly use phony 'account verification' attacks to lure victims. The messages imitate a notice from the bank and will often threaten the user with penalties if they do not proceed to a 'verification' page and enter bank details which are then harvested and either sold off wholesale or used for fraud.

As the confusion over the mergers continues, phishing attacks portrayed as being from a new owner of a user's bank could become more effective and more numerous.

US-Cert is advising users to observe best practice for avoiding phishing, such as not opening unsolicited emails and not entering account details into suspicious sites.

Users concerned about their account status can also avoid phishing attacks by manually loading their bank's web site in the browser and entering the online banking service through the site's front page.