[SC.LUG] Email Scam Alert

[Greg Bolshaw]

Frank Mitchell wrote:
> I thought I'd alert you to a Bogus Email I received recently. Apparently
> it's from Lloyds TSB, even though I'm not a Lloyds Customer. So I phoned
> Lloyds, who confirmed it wasn't theirs, though they were aware of it. Here's
> a (rough) copy below, and I wouldn't recommend anybody to reply to it:

<snip>

> To verify your e-mail address and access your bank account,
> click on the link below. If nothing happens when you click on the
> link (or if you use AOL), copy and paste the link into
> the address bar of your web browser.
> 
> http://www.lloydstsb.com:ac-x6LC0IQr2aBda1XBALgF@LlOyDsG.dA.rU/?LdZJtDp

Yeah, watch out for that. They seem to be going around for most of the 
major banks/building societies at the moment. The dead giveaway is the 
":" in the URL. The above link actually breaks down to the following:

http://			-	the protocol
www.lloydstsb.com	-	username
:			-	username/password seperator
ac-x6LC0IQr2aBda1XBALgF	-	password
@			-	login/host seperator
LlOyDsG.dA.rU/?LdZJtDp	-	the *actual* URL

...very much the same as ftp://username:password@ftpsite.com.

Greg