Monday, February 14, 2005

Artists Against 419 - Is this a legit bank or company?

Artists Against 419 - Is this a legit bank or company?: "Is this a legit bank or company?
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Have you received an offer from a bank or a security or off-shore company, or perhaps a winning notification from a foreign lottery? Want to know if they're real? If you can't find your bank on our list of 419 fake banks and lottery websites, that doesn't mean it's legit! New fakes come online every day. The following tips and tools can help you identify and avoid fraudulent banks and other fake web sites. If you're suspicious about a site, contact the artists!"

I get so many questions about suspected fraudulent emails in this category. A danger in these sites is not only from the fraudsters themselves, but from the danger of their sites being cracked and that data getting into even more criminals hands. I investigated a site recently and found several security flaws that could have been used to crack the site and potentially gain fraudulently gathered bank account data. The banks, FED's and the ISP's simply do not have enough personnel to properly attack this growing problem. See my full-disclosure post regarding this incident and the resulting discussion thread:


http://www.networksecurityarchive.org/html/FullDisclosure/2005-01/msg00893.html