Internet Fraud / Identity Theft Alert!, Sun Trust Bank Phishing Scam

[stevenpd]

I just received an important looking email today. But further investigation identified the email as a "phishing" scam. This email would be the precurser to identity theft for anyone reacting to it. It's the best that I have ever encountered so far. There is a legitimate Sun Trust Bank in Atlanta, Georgia, but the email is not from them. My version came from somewhere else with actual links to the bank website!

It is slick because they email you directly and spam protections may not pick it out. Anti-virus software sees it as email with no viruses.

Please do not release any personal information to anyone! This email requests your social security number as ID. Once that number is given out, it then can be used to destroy everything you have worked so hard to build up in your life.

The best thing to do is delete it and empty your computer's "Recycle Bin" as soon as you get it.

Just thought that everyone should know about this one, it is a nasty one!

[susieq76]

I have gotten one like that from some other bank asking me for all my account info and SSN and stuff. But I don't have an account with them and so I deleted it. Thanks for the heads up!

[Dugadelphia]

It is best to never share your personal information unless you have solicited the correspondence. No legitimate bank would send you an uncolicited correspondence asking you to give them your account and personal information. That is a certain indication of potential fraud.

[dfilpus]

I get a few of these every month. If it is spoofing somebody that I do have an account with, I go to the real web site and get the address for forwarding the mail to. It is usually on a page labelled Security and has an email address of spoof@...

Apparently enough people fall for this scheme that the phishers don't give up.

NO bank, credit card, on-line service will EVER email you asking for your account information through a web-page like this. Checking out the email is relatively safe and forwarding it to the appropriate authority is just good net-citizenship. NEVER fill in any info asked for in this way.

[MDF3530]

For those of you who don't know what a "phishing expedition" email looks like, here's one I received not too long ago, purportedly from PayPal:

	Phishing_Expedition
	Size: 0K
	Number of downloads: 31 Times(s)
	Last accessed: --
	Last Updated: --

[stevenpd]

Maybe I'm paranoid but ANYTHING that comes to me asking for information is suspect. I then check the validity of the email. Report it to the appropriate governmental agency and in some cases directly to the identified company, as is the case with this particular goodie.

This one is impressive in that it will direct you to what appears to be a legitimate log-in screen. If you click on anything else you will go directly to the banks website. This lends a certain legitimacy to the request.

Bottom line is, I'm suspicious of any email because you just don't know.