Security Response

One of the world's biggest automakers has recently been in the headlines because of necessary recalls. Not only the affected vehicle owners, but people in general across the globe are curious and concerned about this issue. And of course, the spammers also seem to be keeping a close eye on the developments surrounding this issue and are working overtime to send out spam messages relating to the incident.

Right after the automaker made an announcement for recalls, Symantec observed a scam message using this event as a lure. This message appears to be targeting people who own vehicles involved in the recent recalls, and links to a site that claims to review the situation and assist in possible financial compensation. The recipients are directed to submit a report regarding his/her vehicle and also give personal information such as name, phone number, and email address.

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Symantec has recently observed an English phishing email that appears to be an official notification from a credit card company affiliated with a major Japanese bank, claiming that a limitation has been placed on the email recipient’s credit card due to a violation. The recipient is asked to provide information relevant to their account.

Last year we observed a similar phishing attempt that was trying to leverage this bank’s brand. However, that email was in the Japanese language and guided unsuspecting users to a Japanese-language phishing website. This new attack starts with an English email message, but links to a site that is written in Japanese where the recipient is asked to give up personal information such as a credit card number, credit verification value, personal identification number (PIN), and validity time. The spammers address the use of English in the email—excusing themselves for sending a message in English instead of in Japanese—...

As the Internet community continues to pay more attention to the reputation of websites and email senders, spammers are doing their best to hide behind well-established and reputable brands. Social networking sites have for some time now been used by spammers in the spam war. As more and more people become connected through social networking sites, it is not unusual to receive notifications of status update or sharing information from your friends. Symantec has recently observed a number of spam attacks claiming to be messages from various social networking sites.

One recent sample attempted to attract the attention of the recipient by using the following tactics:
1.    Claiming to be from a social networking site
2.    Indicating in the Subject line that message was from a social networking site
3.    The message indicated that the recipient had a personal message.

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