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Costco Phishing Scam

Please be aware of a new – at least to me – scam attempt that appears to come from Costco. Especially if you really ordered something from Costco, and are waiting for it to be delivered. You will get a very official looking e-mail from a fake “Costco shipping manager”, with a subject “expedited delivery problem”, or somethint equally alarming. There will be Costco logos all over it. The text of the e-mail will be something like this:
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Unfortunately the delivery of your order COS-0012411499 was cancelled since the specified address of the recipient was not correct. You are recommended to complete this form and send it back with your reply to us.

Please do this within the period of one week – if we dont get your timely reply you will be paid your money back less 21% since your order was booked for Christmas.
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There will be links in the body of the e-mail, so make sure you DO NOT CLICK ON THEM. You will download yourself some nasty virus or something equally unpleasant. Instead, run the full header and the conveniently provided links through Spamcop, and complain. Stay safe, have good holidays.

Costco Phishing Scam

I recently received an email from Costco about the non-delivery of package I never ordered that looked very suspicious. After further review, I was correct with my suspicions and it was an attempted phishing attack/scam. Below is a full definition of phishing.

Phishing is a technique used to gain personal information for purposes of identity theft, using fraudulent e-mail messages that appear to come from legitimate businesses. These authentic-looking messages are designed to fool recipients into divulging personal data such as account numbers and passwords, credit card numbers and Social Security numbers.

So steps you can take to be a victim of a spam attack are listed below:

  • Do not click on links, download files or open attachments in emails from unknown senders
  • Communicate personal information only via phone or secure web sites
  • Protect your computer with a firewall, spam filters, anti-virus and anti-spyware software
  • Beware of links in emails that ask for personal information

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