Sample SPAM-Phishing Email Source Code Education Page

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Envelope-to: my*address@mydomain.com
Delivery-date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 10:30:16 -0400
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:30:23 +0900
Message-Id: <200407291430.i6TEUNPB021882@pointi.com>
To: my*address@mydomain.com
Subject: ***Renew Your Records***
From: "renew@USBank.com"<renew@USBank.com>
Content-Type: text/html

<FONT face="Courier New" color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV><B>          
            
    </B><FONT

size=3><B>Dear U.S. Bank valued membe</B>r,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>       Due to concerns, for the safety and

integrity of the Internet Banking community we have</DIV>
<DIV>issued this warning message.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>       It has come to our attention that your

account information needs to be updated due to</DIV>
<DIV>inactive accounts, frauds and spoof reports. If you could please take 5-10

minutes out of</DIV>
<DIV>your online experience and renew your records you will not run into any future

problems</DIV>
<DIV>with the online service. However, failure to update your records will result in

account</DIV>
<DIV>deletation. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>       Once you have updated your account records

your online banking account will not be</DIV>
<DIV>interrupted and will continue as normal.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>         
    Please

follow the link below and renew your account information.</DIV>
<DIV>        <A
href="http://www.akhlesh.com/stats/.access/requestCmdId/USBank/internet
Banking/DisplayLoginPage/RequestRouter/"><FONT
color=#0000ff><U>http://www.usbank.com/cgi_w/cfm/personal/account_access/
account_access.cfm</U></FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV>          
           
           
           
           
        </DIV>
<DIV><FONT

size=3>          
           
           
         &n

bsp;       <U><B>U.S. Bank Internet

Banking</B></U></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
</FONT>

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Please read blue and red cautionary notes first:

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First, you will notice how "genuine" it looks! (And, will you notice the misspelled word? That is one of the better clues that a SPAM email is NOT official... although there are many more.) (Of course you do NOT want to click that "official-looking phishing link" in the SPAM email sample below, as it will take you straight to their EVIL phishing site!!)
So, just look, but DON'T CLICK their up-to-no-good-links in the inbox sample below!

***********************************************************************
And, here is what that same strange-looking email source code above would look like when it appeared inside your inbox:

Dear U.S.Bank valued member,

Due to concerns, for the safety and integrity of the Internet Banking community we have issued this warning message.

It has come to our attention that your account information needs to be updated due to inactive accounts, frauds and spoof reports. If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and renew your records you will not run into any future problems with the online service. However, failure to update your records will result in account deletation.

Once you have updated your account records your online banking account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

Please follow the link below and renew your account information.

http://www.usbank.com/cgi_w/cfm/personal/account_access/account_acce ss.cfm

U.S. Bank Internet Banking

***********************************************************************

(CAUTION: You truly do NOT want to click the "fake banking link" above, as it will take you straight to their evil phishing site!! JUST HOVER YOUR MOUSE over the usbank.com link above and notice that it is DIFFERENT from the words you see when you look at it!) See detailed explanation below:

As you can see, there is a LOT of valuable information inside that header, even though you and I may not be able to decipher it. :-) Someone else CAN.

What I find interesting, and it fully explains the reason why you are always asked to TYPE IN THE URL whenever visiting a secure website is noted below:

The link "says" that it is to usbank.com....

(And it appears to be a "regular" link to your banking institution)

http://www.usbank.com/cgi_w/cfm/personal/account_access/account_acce ss.cfm

...but HERE BELOW (as you noticed when you hovered your mouse over the sample inbox email above) is where the link really leads you:
(But, this is the actual spam phishing link where they are REDIRECTING you so they can steal from you!)
http://www.akhlesh.com/stats/.access/requestCmdId/USBank/internetBanking/
DisplayLoginPage/RequestRouter/

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     I will continue updating this page, but for now, it should help a little, anyway. I hope it stops some of the online BS that unsuspecting folks are being subjected to. Applied knowledge is power, so apply it to your own life and business, and you can help to stop those who would hurt us all. Submit your full email source headers like the above example to spam@uce.gov

     Remember, you will stay more secure and safe online by learning all that you can about spam, phishing and other nefarious scamming themes! And please remember to NEVER open attachments (no matter how interesting they look or sound) and NEVER click banking or financial links from within your emails, unless you are absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt CERTAIN that the email originated from your trusted resource.

     To be totally secure, it's just better to always manually type the URL into your browser to be sure you will get to the site where you really want to go. Then, also check your browser for the little "locked" symbol in the lower right hand side of the status bar. That's another good sign you are at the secure "https" website where you belong.

     I hope you have enjoyed reading and learning from this web page, as it was my intention to teach and help anyone who doesn't understand the process (or the danger) of phishing emails and spam. The internet has the potential to be such a wonderful medium, but like anything, it has it's downsides if you aren't cautious and remaining alert to the ways that dishonest netizens would use to deceive and scam you.

Respectfully yours,

Donna Maher RN

P.S. If you want to keep this kind of trash OUT of your mailbox in the first place, take a look at Mail Box Filter and see what it might be able to do for your peace of mind.

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More To Come!