Recent phishing scams on Twitter have alerted many Auburn students to the danger of phishing scams and have left others wondering what to do if they fall victim to such a scam.
According to the Auburn University Office of Information Technology Web site, phishing scams are "typically fraudulent e-mail messages appearing to come from legitimate sources like your bank, your Internet Service Provider, eBay or PayPal, for example."
The OIT Web site said these messages typically direct victims to a fake Web site which asks for information such as passwords or credit card numbers. The creators of the scam can then take the submitted personal information and commit identity theft.
Two types of scams have plagued Twitter lately. The first involved 33 compromised accounts, including the accounts for CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, Bill O'Reilly and Britney Spears.
The second is a password-stealing phishing scam, which works by sending Twitter users an e-mail, such as would be received for the notification of a direct message. This e-mail contains a link going to a fake Twitter home page. The URL for this page is Tvviter.com. Because of the two "v"s in the fake URL, many people simply assume that it is the true page of Twitter.com.
The page prompts the person to log in, which enables the phishers to gain user names and passwords. The phishers then send direct messages to the person's followers, perpetuating the scam.
The official Twitter site about the issue said when accounts are compromised, Twitter will "proactively reset the passwords of the accounts." The Twitter support team said, "If you find yourself unable to login to your account with your user name and password, please use the reset password link to regain access. This will send an e-mail to the address associated with your account and you'll be able to create a new password."
Caroline O'Neill, a senior in RTVF, said she got caught up in a phishing scam when trying to buy a camera on the Internet.
What appeared to be walmart.com was actually waimart.com. Phishers were able to steal her information via this scam.
Summer Johnson, a senior in Communications, said since she doesn't have a Facebook or Twitter account, she is not worried about becoming involved with a phishing scam.
The National Consumers League's Internet Fraud Watch offers many tips for avoiding phishing scams on their Web site, www.fraud.org.
One tip listed on this Web site is to "protect your computer with spam filters, anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and a firewall, and keep them up to date."
"OIT and other legitimate agencies will never ask you to provide personal information like user name or password via an e-mail message," Seth Humphrey, information technician at Auburn University, said.
Humphrey encourages students receiving suspicious e-mails to forward them to abuse@auburn.edu to ensure that no one falls victim to its scheme. Humphrey recommends using caution when sharing personal information via the Internet. "Have up-to-date antivirus, and you'll probably be fine," Humphrey said.
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