A phishing attack based in China is attempting to convince members of Credit Union Australia to give up their credit card and account details.

The phony emails being sent to CUA members look very authentic and carry the image of Scott Cam, the larrikin Backyard Blitz builder from Nine Network, whose advertisements try to persuade people to change over from the big banks. In part the emails read, “We have noticed some unusual activity related to your service that indicates other parties may have access. The link below will direct you to the online banking Log On screen.”

However, the link directs members to plausible-appearing but fraudulent websites, at least one of which is hosted in the northern Chinese city of Harbin, according to tracking information provided by Miller-Smiles, an anti-phishing organisation. Cam’s image appears on the attack sites.

In a similar manner, another cyberattack attempts to convince online banking customers that the real CUA website is a fake and their fake site is the real one.

Cam’s manager, Chris Giannopoulos, assures the public that his client has nothing to do with the cyberattacks.

CUA is Australia’s largest credit union. More and more often it’s the preferred target of online fraudsters, who seem to believe a credit union won’t have such sophisticated defenses as a major bank, while still retaining a fair-sized customer base. CUA’s nearly 400,000 members are mainly located in NSW, Victoria, and Queensland.

Members of a credit union are indemnified against losses through fraud, whether it occurs through the Internet or otherwise, just as banking customers are. Meanwhile, thousands of possibly compromised accounts have been frozen, CUA staffers are answering questions for confused members, and Visa and MasterCard are issuing new credit cards to replace the compromised ones.

Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au