Miss Scarborough has become the latest victim of online phishing
fraudsters, with the the beauty contest winner having had £10,000
stolen from her bank account.
Jade Saunders, a 20-year-old student, was crowned Miss
Scarborough in April this year, and is also a semi-finalist for
Miss England 2008.
Saunders reportedly clicked on a link in an e-mail purporting to
be from her bank, which took her to a genuine-looking, but fake,
website.
By entering her security log-in details on the fake site,
Saunders provided the cybercriminals with all they needed to set up
a standing order on her account for £10,000.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at web security
software firm Sophos, said, "According to the
Anti-Phishing Working
Group, phishers are able to convince up to 5% of recipients to
reply to the kind of e-mail sent to Jade, but this need not be the
case if simple habits are learnt.
"Reputable companies do not ask their customers for passwords or
account details in e-mail, so even if you think a message from your
bank may be legitimate, do not follow any links, instead visit your
bank's website by typing its address into your web browser."