The residents of Wabash Valley (a region with parts in both Illinois and Indiana, US) have been recently targeted by an Internet phishing scam. The phishing scam has started with a mail that appears to have come from the First Financial Bank of Terre Haute (Indiana, US).
The mail informs the recipients that their online banking accounts have been blocked in wake of many suspicious login attempts. It then asks the recipients to click on a link attached with the mail to unblock and access the online banking accounts. To make it look more reliable and realistic, the mail carries the bank's logo and slogan, "Always Close to Home," as per the reports. Commenting on the phishing scam, the First Financial Bank officials have stated that the scam is not specifically targeted at the First Financial customers. It seems that the mail has been sent to Internet users across Wabash Valley, including the non-bank customers, as per the news tribstar on July 2, 2010. Steve Herndon, Vice President of Compliance and Security for First Financial, has stated that it is a typical scam, as per the reports by tribstar on July 2, 2010. Herndon has further added that they have spread the web in order to catch some victims. Moreover, First Financial will never ask customers for private details in this manner, he said, as per the news by tmcnet on July 2, 2010. As of July 2, 2010 morning, the bank officials had received many calls from the recipients of the mail. However, Herndon said that no user had clicked on the link. Fortunately, people have started recognizing such kinds of mails. Herndon has informed that users have become more conscious about phishing mails and they know that banks would never send mails asking users of their login details and passwords. First Financial Bank has reported the incident to the federal government's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). IC3 is a collaboration of the National White Collar Crime Center, the FBI and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. |
