Bank, security firms warn against phishing schemes

MANILA, Philippines — Internet security company Kaspersky Lab reported a 27.5% increase in phishing cases online in 2018, targeting online banking through email phishing schemes, a bank company said in a statement.

Bank of the Philippine Islands’s Data Protection Officer and Enterprise Information Security Officer Jon Paz said those specifically targeted by scams are those susceptible to
fraudulent email alerts and suspicious emails.

“Often, fraudulent e-mail will alert you to a problem that may be fixed if you ‘verified’ your information by clicking on a link, or ask you to support disaster relief efforts or even a political
campaign by providing your information using a form embedded in the message,” Paz said.

Paz added scammers could take possession of bank and credit card login credentials if these kinds of emails were clicked.

Phishing is the fraudulent sending of emails aiming to illegally harvest information. Kaspersky Lab added about 100 million of phishing cases were recorded worldwide in 2018.

“In most cases, fraudsters create a replica of a trustworthy landing page, enticing a victim to enter their credentials along with any other valuable information or pay for non-existing service,” the internet security company added in its 2018 report.

Phishing can also be in the form of malvertising, malware is being injected to the system to gather sensitive information; whaling scam, the use of impersonation to steal information via
email; and spear phishing, which are targeted online scheme usually sourced from individual social media accounts.

Paz said personal information should not be posted online. He advised not to post crucial bank information such as birthday and contact details as well as vacation plans on social media as scammers might take advantage of online activity.

“Vigilance is key to protecting yourself from phishing,” Paz said. “This way, we can stay a step ahead of scams and cyber-attacks,” he added.

Kaspersky Lab also advised to only use secure connections when visiting sensitive websites such as online banking sites.

— Philstar.com intern Edelito Mercene Jr.