Ah, those naughty phishers just won’t let up. This past week I got an email from a “wAccounts@VerizonWireless.com,” telling me my cell phone bill in excess of $1,000 was “ready” for payment. Had I been an actual Verizon Wireless customer, and a heavy cell phone user, this might have actually been a convincing forgery.
The language, graphics and fonts were spot-on. They even paid the courtesy of including a link to the real company’s privacy policy. (How considerate!) As a trained editor, I can usually sniff out such fakes from a mile away because of misspelled words, odd punctuation, or other discrepancies that would never make it past a major corporation’s communications department. To the untrained, unobservant, or simply harried eye, it’s easy to see how these legit-looking lures can (and do) make a killing.
Were this a company that I actually did business with, the phishers might have reeled me in. There was at least one tell-tale mistake they made, however, that screamed “fraud.” The hover-over address that appeared in my browser showed a United Kingdom domain name. Nothing against our fine friends across the pond, but it just seemed highly suspicious that a U.S. company would re-direct its customers there online. (See screen shots).
If you see a destination address like this when you hover your mouse ... don't click!
The point? As they used to say on a certain cop drama remembered fondly by those of us “of a certain age,” be careful out there.
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