Phishing Scam Alert: “Information from Comerica Bank customer service team”

I just got the following email with the subject line: “Information from Comerica Bank customer service team [message id: 0715063392]” from “Comerica Bank” which, for me, was obviously a phishing scam. I wanted to quickly document what I found to alert others.

While the English of this email message is not as bad as other phishing scams that I have seen, it does raise some red flags. However, it is also without any type of formatting (typically, banks have an email template). Also, banks normally don’t send out this type of information email. The email header shows that the sender was “Hotmail” which is a sign of a phishing scam. If you ever get an alert like this, it is better NOT to click the link and instead, go directly to the site by manually typing in the URL.

This is part of the URL that shows up. Note the main domain is: “jfliil.net”!

I clicked through the URL just to see if FireFox was blocking it yet. When I started this post, Firefox was not picking it up. It is now. Norton Confidential IS picking it up! The Netcraft Toolbar did detect it as well. (This toolbar is GREAT in that it detects Phishing scams as well as can give you insight into the true host of a website.)

This is what the Phishing site looks like:

This is what the Actual Comerica Business Connect site looks like:

They are incredibly alike! Note, the actual site contains additional assistance links.

I continued filling out the form with dummy date and was presented with a variety of other forms as I went.

You are asked for additional customer information and passwords.

You are asked to re-input your Token Code.

Lastly, you are asked to fill out a bunch of other personal information.

This, to me, seems like a pretty well thought out Phishing scam. I don’t know if it actually tries to validate your information against the actual site.

Quick Tips to avoid Phishing Scams:

• Don’t click on links in emails that seem odd
• Use some kind of browser that detects Phishing sites. Most of the latest ones do.
• Be sure you have a robust Security Suite (I like Kaspersky Internet Security for the PC, and Norton Internet Security for the Mac)
• If you need to access a financial institution’s website, go to it manually

HTD Says: Stay safe when you browse, read email and click links. Use only trusted sources and be educated!