iBurst issues fraud warning

By Christelle du Toit, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 05 May 2008

Broadband provider iBurst has warned customers that a fraudulent e-mail is doing the rounds under the guise of an official company communication.

The "phishing" mail aims to get iBurst clients to reveal their user names and passwords in a bid to gain access to their user profile and bandwidth.

The company has assured clients that their details will not be compromised.

"Rest assured that even if you sent your user name and password to the sender [of the fraudulent e-mail], iBurst's authentication process will prevent anyone from using your account details to access the Internet," it said in an e-mail communication with clients.

Fraudulent e-mails, seeking to elicit confidential information from Internet users, are nothing new, nor is the specific targeting of broadband users to access their bandwidth.

Online fraud in SA was estimated to have cost the country in the region of R276 million, during the first quarter of this year.

McAfee SA estimates that in 2004, cyber-crime already accounted for $150 billion worth of fraud worldwide, outstripping even the illegal drug trade in value.

The anti-virus company said phishers are becoming culture-specific in their fraud attempts, targeting countries where online transactions are on the rise.

In April, Telkom warned its clients that they were being targeted through hoax e-mails by individuals who wanted to access their bandwidth.

Towards the end of last month, Microsoft reported that Trojans - stealthy programs that infect computers to access private information - rose by 300% from the first half of 2007.

Also in April, Symantec reported spam - unsolicited e-mail that can sometimes carry malware - made up 88% of all e-mail traffic, recording a new all-time high.