By: Brooke Crothers
A new email scam that goes after your banking information looks so legit it could fool you.
The scam pretends to be Citibank replete with an authentic-looking website, according to cybersecurity news site BleepingComputer, which credits MalwareHunterTeam as the organization that discovered the scam.
The fake Citibank domain, or website address, is a convincing fake: “update-citi .com.” That’s a big first step in potentially fooling Citibank customers since scams often use domain addresses that are easily identifiable as fake.
The scam also uses a so-called Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate and other security measures that “could easily cause people to believe they are submitting their personal information on a legitimate page,” according to BleepingComputer.
Security certificates lend additional credibility to the scam because they imply authenticity.
Here’s how the scam works: after a Citibank customer is fooled into entering their login information, they are shown forms that request personal information. That includes name, date of birth, address, the last four digits of their social security number, their debit card number and other card information that is typically requested like security codes, according to BleepingComputer.