Hi
Not sure if this is the correct section of the forum for this post, I came across this report in the costablanca news. I thought it would be worth informing other forum members of the Scam.
Fraudsters obtain credit card details by promising rebates
The Spanish tax office has detected a new scam to obtain internet users’ bank details with the excuse of a supposed tax refund.
Using the method know as ‘phishing’, scam operators have been sending out thousands of emails using the official Agencia Tributaria logo informing internet users they have a pending tax rebate.
The link provided in the email takes the user to a page that simulates that of the tax office and includes a form that must be filled in to obtain the alleged tax return. Data requested includes a credit card number.
Readers are warned they must discard this email immediately.
The Agencia Tributaria warns that it never sends emails requesting personal data and does not send tax returns via credit card. The domain used by he fraudsters is www.aeats.eu, which is not one of the official Agencia Tributaria web-sites, these being www. aeat.es, www.agenciatributaria.es and www.agenciatributaria.com.
Police believe the scam is being more effective than others due to the proximity of the annual IRPF tax declaration period which begins on Wednesday (May 2).
PHISHING AROUND
Phishing is the computer term for the criminal activity involving the attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information (passwords, bank details, etc) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity.
Banks and internet companies trading regularly in online purchases (eBay and PayPal) are the most targeted companies.
Costa Blanca News has frequently reported of such scams targeting customers of banks in Spain such as BBVA, La Caixa and Santander among others. Again banks warn they never request such sensitive information by email.
Phishing is typically carried out by the use of email or instant messages. Users are redirected to a website or phone number in which the sensitive information is requested.
Phishing techniques include link manipulation (the website address appears to be bona fide but you are actually linked up to the phishers’ site), website forgery and phone phishing (general using fake freephone or fake numbers).
It is estimated that in the UK, losses from web banking fraud – mainly by phishing – doubled from £12.2 million in 2004 to £23.2 million in 2005. One in every 20 users claimed to have lost out to phishers in 2005.
Report from the costablanca news