According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, in April there were twelve different companies whose customers were targeted for scams where the scammers tried to obtain sensitive information. Customers of numerous well-known companies, including Citibank, US Bank, eBay, PayPal, and FDIC, were the target of 1125 unique scams in April.
In March the group tracked 402 scams against eighteen companies and as it stands now, close to the end of May, there have been half as many compaies targeted as in April, however the total number of scams to date for May remains unreported by the Anti-Phishing Working Group. The May attacks have so far targeted customers of the popular 2checkout.com payment system, MSN, Citibank, US Bank, Westpac Bank, and eBay.
As you know, the "phishing" scams typically use email in conjunction with spoofed Web pages to lure users into thinking they have received an important request from the particular service provider. As always, it is best not to immediately react to email messages that seem to be from one of your chosen service providers. Instead, check to see what their policy is about sending such requests via email and if you cannot find that information on their Web site then contact them via telephone or email for verification.
Another suggestion is to check the Anti-Phishing Working Group's Web site to see if a message you have received is a known scam. If you discover a scam the group has not become aware of then consider reporting it to them, which could help protect other users.
If you are interested you can view the group's March and April reports, which are available in PDF format at their Web site.
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