FYI | Dec 18 2006
By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck
David Bell, executive director of the Australian Bankers Association, recently told our colleagues at banking e-zine The Sheet he was hearing anecdotally from banks that the success of phishing attacks was declining in Australia.
However, Bell added the sheer number of attacks appeared to be ever increasing and Australian banks were at the top of the target list globally for online scammers.
Unfortunately, the latter seems to have been confirmed today with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) issuing an official warning about a new hoax email purporting to be send by the RBA.
“The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) also known as the Central Bank of Australia”, the email reads, “is currently working on the safety of all Australia Banks and the convenience of conducting most of your banking transactions at a time that suits with ANZ bank, Westpac Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
“In order to confirm the new the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) security with ANZ bank, Westpac Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia and to preserve your account stability with any of this banks, kindly confirm your account registration with new the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) by clicking your bank link below to confirm your account security now.”
What follows are three separate links for each of the three aforementioned banks. Note the absence of National Australia Bank.
It goes without saying the e-mail was not issued or authorised by the Reserve Bank of Australia and neither does the RBA require such registration.
For those readers who are not yet familiar with the practice of phishing, here’s what Investopedia.com has to say on the subject: “A method of identity theft carried out through the creation of a website that seems to represent a legitimate company. The visitors to the site, thinking they are buying something from a real business, submit their personal information to the site. The criminals then use the personal information for their own purposes, or sell the information to other criminal parties.”