Following the news that a new phishing scam is targeting American Express users with a message full of grammatical errors but which used a base HTML element to hide the malicious URL from antispam solutions, Corin Imai, senior security advisor at DomainTools commented below.
Corin Imai, Senior Security Advisor at DomainTools:
“Users should remember that when an email creates a sense of urgency, that is already in itself a sufficient reason to look at all the details more closely. As a general rule, users should always type the website URL in the address bar rather than clicking on a link – no matter how legitimate it may appear at a glance. When in doubt, visiting the official website of the organisation the email purports to be from can also help clarify any doubts.
This phishing email displayed a URL that looked like a real American Express webpage address, which unaware users could easily click on, in a rush to resolve the issue with their credit card. This rush is perfectly natural, but it’s better to take your time in order to establish the legitimacy of any emails you receive.”
