TELLTALE SIGNS OF FRAUD The central bank says phishing emails are made to look legitimate but often contain generic greeting, grammatical errors, sense of urgency and no verifiable contact details of the sender. —SCREENGRAB FROM BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS
MANILA, Philippines — With incidents of unauthorized transactions in some teachers’ bank accounts, how can users ensure they would not fall victim to a phishing scam?
According to a primer of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), phishing happens when unexpected or suspicious emails ask for personal information, details of bank account or credit card, or passwords.
Scammers gain access to these sensitive pieces of information when the bank clients click a link to a usually fake or spoofed website, which often looks very similar to the real webpage.
The BSP said there are four variations of phishing: spear, pharming, vishing and smishing.
Spear phishing is targeted attacks on specific individuals or companies while pharming redirects a user to a fake website where personal or account information would be stolen.
Vishing happens when the clients receive voice calls, automated recording, or voice-over-internet protocol from someone who is pretending to be an employee of the bank or a company well known to the target to obtain information or account details.
Smishing has the same modus operandi as phishing but instead of email, it uses text or short message services (SMS) on mobile devices such as mobile…
