Anatomy of a Phishing Email

Spamming for money
2

phish·ing/ˈfi shiŋ/
-
noun:
The fraudulent practice of
sending emails purporting to
be from legitimate companies
in order to induce individuals
to reveal personal information

© 2003-2012 Identity Theft 911, LLC. All Rights Reserved - Confidential July 13, 2012

3 An inbox hand grenade
This is what a phishing email can look like if your email client is
set to display text only.


4 Looks can be deceiving
And here it is loaded in rich-text or HTML. Odds are your email is set
up so that a phishing email could look a lot like this. Seems official?


5 A closer look
Notice the To: and Cc: boxes aren’t filled in. And while it claims to be
from Wells Fargo, the email address appears to be from “activation.”


6 Not my number
See how they’ve tried to make the VISA number look like something
you’d recognize? Well, on most credit cards it’s the last eight
numbers that are unique.

7 Obvious no-no
No bank or legitimate business will ask for personal information in an
email. It’s a clear sign the message is a scam.


A deeper look
8

 The scammers get sophisticated. The Wells Fargo logo has an
official SSL certificate, a widely accepted method for ensuring
a secure connection. That means the bad guys mined the
Internet for official company graphics to include in the con.


Verified, but not
9

 The SSL certificate is
verified, meaning it
has been officially
recognized as Wells
Fargo.
 But that only applies
to the logo. So if you
dissect your messages
for authenticity, be
careful. It’s easy to
be misled.


10 The evil code
Looking at the email code, you can see information wouldn’t be sent to
Wells Fargo, but to PayPal. It’s designed to automatically pull money from
your account, through PayPal, presumably to the hackers’ account.

The reroute game
11

The scammers are also trying to mask their steps
by pumping your information through a masked
web address: http://0x185AED0A/T/w.php


Use your judgment
12

The best defense against these
phishing attacks is sound judgment.

If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.
Simply pick up the phone, call your
bank or business, and ask them to
work with you over the phone.


Take action
13

If you’ve fallen for a phishing
scam, you’re not alone. Call your
bank, credit union, insurer, financial
planner or attorney to see if they provide
identity theft protection.


Help is out there
14

Call Identity Theft 911
at 1-888-682-5911.


Anatomy of a Phishing Email

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