ISP AT&T Worldnet Service has warned customers that
they may have been targeted by an e-mail scam designed to capture
their credit card information.
AT&T spokesman Tom Hopkins said the company learned last
Friday that some of its customers had received fraudulent e-mails
purporting to be from AT&T Worldnet Service. He said the
company then sent e-mails to its customers warning them about the
scam.
Hopkins said the e-mails, which contain the subject line
“Billing Update Requested (Urgent)” directed customers to a
spoofed, or fake, website and asked them to supply their credit
card information. Hopkins said the sender’s e-mail address is
either att.billing@worldnet.att.net, or
billing@worldnet.att.net.
Hopkins, who declined to say exactly how many customers had
fallen victim to the scam, said AT&T has already taken the
bogus websites down.
He added AT&T would never ask for customers’ personal data
by asking them to click onto a link in an e-mail. Rather, he said,
the company would direct customers to AT&T Worldnet’s secure
member website where they would log in with their user IDs and
passwords.
Hopkins said AT&T is working to protect its customers from
similar scams in the future, but declined to provide further
details, saying scammers could use that information to their
advantage.
Linda Rosencrance writes for Computerworld