It's been only a few days since one of the largest data breaches in U.S. history, where millions of customers' e-mail addresses were stolen from Epsilon, a marketing services firm with major clients like Best Buy, TIVO, Marriott, 1-800-Flowers, Walgreens, Target, Wells Fargo and many other major names. The United States Better Business Bureau is already reporting the first of new phishing scams to come from the breach. Phishing scammers pose as reputable companies to fraudulently obtain your personal information. In this case, the BBB is now seeing emails being sent from a fake 'Chase Bank,' one of the companies whose data was compromised. Following suit, the email warns that ‘your account’ will be deactivated or deleted if you do not update your profile immediately. The email instructs you to update your account by clicking on the link provided.
The information stolen from Epsilon was reportedly limited to its clients' customer email addresses and/or names. It was acquired by unauthorized entry into Epsilon's email system.
BBB advises consumers that this may be the only the first of more Epsilon related phishing scams, and to follow the usual safeguards:
- Never reply to the email and never click on link within it. Scammers use this to spread viruses on computers.
- Don't give personal or financial information to anyone who contacts you by email. A financial institution, the IRS or law enforcement agencies will not contact you via email asking for confidential information.
- Transmitted information should be encrypted. When sending addresses, credit card numbers and social security numbers over the Internet make sure the website is fully encrypted and secure.
- Know the red flags. Watch out for grammatical mistakes in emails. Poor grammar or misspelled words are red flags that the email is probably a scam.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment