Cormac Moylan

I received an email this evening from “Woolwich.co.uk” which evaded my gmail anti spam filters and informed me of the following:

We recently reviewed your account, and we suspect an unauthorized ATM based transaction. Therefore as a preventive measure we will temporary limit your access to sensitive Woolwich features. To ensure that your account is not compromised, please login to your Woolwich Openplan Online Banking and verify your identity to prevent deactivation.

SERVICE: Woolwich Openplan Online Banking.
What you need to do:
- Go to: http://www.woolwich.co.uk/
- Go to - Openplan Online Banking.
- Login to Online Banking.

************************************
For any inquiries, contact Customer Service.
************************************

Crikey! I better get a move on and verfiy my account with them!
The url provide brings you to this web address - http://www.woolwich.co.uk.webbank.openplan.d.designfuze.com/x.banking.php

The fake address uses a series of subdomains to dupe you into beliving that you’re on the woolwich.co.uk website. The directions above ask you to click on a link which opens up a pop-up window and, very cunningly, redirects to the woolwich.co.uk website in the background to make the request seem as realistic as possible.

This is of course a scam, take a look at the below screen shot which alerts you to the possibility of the site’s dishonesty.

I’m using the Netcraft plugin for Firefox which detects fraudulent websites in a similar way to which anti virus software checks your PC for viri.

It also detects what country the website is hosted in. The majority of phishing websites are hosted on hacked servers in Asia, Korea and China are the more prominent, while America has its fair share of phishing sites too.

Do woolwich.co.uk host with a Korean company? Nope. Then it must be a fake.

Click on the spam button that accompanies your email account and then delete it.

The Netcraft toolbar is available for both Internet Explorer and Firefox.
And it is available to download here. It is your best protection if you are unsure about a website’s authenticity.

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