Alert: E-mail Phishing Aimed at Banking Customers

Alert: E-mail Phishing Aimed at Banking Customers

News Release from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service

ARLINGTON, Va., July 12 – Customers of the DOD Community Bank and other institutions providing financial services to Department of Defense military and civilian personnel continue to be targeted with e-mail phishing campaigns which attempt to gather personal and account information. The latest e-mail presents itself as originating from the “Military Bank of America” and asks recipients to click a link to update their account information due to an update of Web site features. According to Bank of America officials, the e-mail is fraudulent and the site has been shut down.

“Alert customers reported this e-mail to the bank and another fraudulent site is closed for business,” said Pat Shine, DFAS Deputy Director for Operations. “But these phishing campaigns continue to be a concern and as soon as one fraudulent site is closed, the phishers have opened a new one. From our own online services, such as myPay, to the services offered by our contractors, security of customer personal and account information is our highest priority. This latest attempt to lure customers to give up this information is a great reminder that security is everyone’s responsibility.” “Remember, legitimate businesses will not send you an e-mail asking you to go to a Web site to confirm or update account information. When you receive an e-mail like this, delete it,” said Shine.

“You are not being specifically targeted. The suspects spam this e-mail message to a large number of e-mail accounts in an attempt to convince unsuspecting victims to respond.” Shine provides customers with numerous precautions to take to prevent fraud, which you can view at http://www.dfas.mil/news/2007pressreleases/release07070001.html.

“You should never give anyone your user IDs or passwords,” Shine concluded. “In fact, anyone having suspicions that an e-mail message may not be ‘quite right’ should contact DFAS if it is about one of our services, or the appropriate commercial business immediately. Only by working together can we make sure information stays as safe and secure as possible.”