elb's hovel of thoughts

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

I got phished!

Today I received my first ever phishing email. It was purportedly sent by Lloyd's TSB Bank, which immediately raised a red flag, since I do not bank with them.

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(there was a low quality Lloyd's TSB logo here)


Security Notice

Dear Lloyds TSB Account Holder,
During our regularly scheduled account maintenance and verification
procedures, we were unable to verify your account information.
This might be due to either one of the following reasons:


1. A recent change in your personal information (ie change of address).

2. Submitting invalid information during the initial enrollment process.

3. An inability to accurately verify your account information due to an
internal error within our processors.

We demand that you take 5 minutes out of your online experience and
renew your records to avoid running into any future problems with the
online service. However, failure to update your records will result in your
account suspension. Once you have updated your account records your
internet banking service will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

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Further red flags:

The use of language. 'We demand'? Horrific PR!

A further analysis:
The official Lloyd's TSB website is http://www.lloydstsb.com/
The email links you to http://www.lloydstsb-staff.com/, which has been shutdown (by authorities I presume), eventhough in the email it pointed to an apparently legitimate site in Lloyd's itself.

Note: Never ever ever ever open the links from such emails. Always use the main webpages of the company in question. If in doubt, CALL YOUR COMPANY UP AND VERIFY.

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