There is a new on-line scam circling the World Wide Web. Once only a threat to business accounts, it may soon be taking aim at consumers' individual bank accounts.
Gary Sherrell is the owner of Dynamic Computing Services.
The Maple Valley business owner is the victim of an international scam that used phishing technology to wipe out half a million dollars from his company's bank account.
"We weren't sure what had happened at that time what had just transpired, what caused the hole," said Gary.
Gary's comptroller opened that hole when she clicked on an email that claimed to be from Facebook. When she hit the link a virus downloaded into the company's system.
Hackers created a new user ID and password, and attacked the company's computer using servers in Reno and Jersey City.
The scammers transferred $190,000 from Gary's account to the Vietnam Bank for Industry in Hanoi. Gary didn't get a single call from his bank when it happened.
"I can't drive to Portland without and use my credit card to use gas without getting a call from the bank," said Gary.
By 9 a.m. the next morning, the attacks continued. A total of $44,000 was sent to accounts in the U.S. Then, two hours later, $167,000 and $148,000 was sent to Sberbank in Moscow.
In all $550,000 was gone to world-wide accounts in 31 hours.
But, Gary got lucky. His bank, Foundation Bank, in Bellevue retrieved most of the cast. It is believed the hackers left poor forwarding information to the banks where his money was supposed to be transferred next.
Security experts say this corporate style of attack will begin to hit consumers.
How do you protect yourself?
Be very careful with messages from friends or strangers on social networking sites. It is the links and attachments that will get you in trouble. Make sure your Internet bank will cover you. In many instances businesses will lose bank protection if they don't report the incident within 48 hours.
Although security experts say anti-virus programs won't necessarily catch this typ eof phishing scam, it is still a good idea to use them, because there are plenty of other viruses they can catch.
