Best Buy 'Fraud Alert' Spam

We got more requests to alert our subscribers about this scam than any other scam this year.

A colleague first alerted us to this one when he received an email with the alarming subject line "Best Buy Order #XXXXXXX. Fraud Alert."

The email informed him that someone apparently had made an online order using his credit card information at the Best Buy Web site. The email requested him to visit a 'special Fraud Department' page at the Best Buy Web site where he could confirm or decline the transaction by providing him with the correct information.

To make it look more official, details of the supposed transaction were provided, along with an official-looking visible URL: http://www.BestBuy.com/fraud_department.html.

This is a new twist on the identity theft scam. If he'd gone to the URL, he'd have gone to a Web site not linked to Best Buy. And if he'd entered his personal information, the scammer would have had another victim.

But you may wonder how this could work, if the URL was going to www.BestBuy.com?

That's one of the tricks the scammers now use.

Scammers send this email using HTML format (displayed as 'Rich Text' in Outlook, Outlook Express, Mac OS X mail, etc.). That way, they can make the hidden hyperlink different from the visible text on top of it.

In reality, if you clicked on that URL, you'd be going to a scammer Web site (they're using multiple ones to try to stay ahead of the FTC).

To avoid getting scammed, see the tips in the previous Guide.

Hackers Masquerade As Best Buy To Steal Credit-Card Details

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