Financial And Social Media Scams Taking Off

Date: 07/01/2009

MarkMonitor's latest Brandjacking Index has been released, and if you hadn't already guessed, scammers are trying to take full advantage of the financial crisis with related subjects lines and the like. A less predictable discovery was that they're attacking through social networks on a regular basis, too.

Here's the story. Things started in January with MarkMonitor picking four bank brands to monitor for scams connected to terms like "mortgage" and "unemployed." Then it examined 134 million public domain records and billions of sites and emails.

When all was said and done, MarkMonitor concluded in a formal statement, "More than 7,300 cybersquatted domains were identified targeting the four financial brands in the study. . . . Phishing attacks against the four financial brands numbered 10,000, representing a 36 percent increase in Q1 2009 from the previous quarter."

Plus, with respect to sites like Facebook and MySpace - sites where you let down your guard because you're supposed to be among friends - the statement noted, "Social media is one of the fastest-growing target category for phishers, with attacks increasing 241% against social media companies between Q1 2008 and Q1 2009."

Hopefully that finding will be helpful inasmuch as it'll make people be more cautious even when they're in allegedly safe online environments. The first string of discoveries may protect people who are already down on their luck, too.

Article by Doug Caverly

Source: http://www.securitypronews.com

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