Apr 8

Written by: Renegade
Tuesday, April 08, 2008 12:00 AM

Last Saturday I opened up an HSBC account in Hong Kong, and the same day, I started seeing HSBC phishing emails. Bizarre! This is one:

Dear HSBC bank customer,

We would like to inform you that we are currently carrying out scheduled maintenance.
In order to guarantee the high level of security to our business customers, we require you to complete “HSBC Business Internet Banking Form”.
Please complete HSBC BIB Form using the link below:

HSBC BIB Form

This is auto-generated email, please do not respond to this email.

I was expecting at least 1 email from HSBC, and the first one I saw was a phishing email. I clicked on the link and was surprised when I was taken to a phishing site. It was a VERY good replication of the HSBC site itself.

My initial reaction to the URL in the email was that it was probably a tracking URL, and not phishing at all. Nope. The funny URL went straight to a phishing site.

Ok. Fine. So I just delete them instead. That works for me, but what about those people that are less tech-savvy and can't tell the difference? It's a bit easier to see how people can get caught in a phisher's net then.

Cheers,

Ryan

 

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