New Phishing Scheme Affects Online Poker Players
This is a heads up for people that play at Party Poker. Beware of any emails that ask you to sign into your account through an email link
From LaunchPoker.com
Phishing is the term used when scam artists try to get a consumer’s personal information in order to steal money from them, and now it appears that phishers have decided to go after online poker players. Members of online poker room Party Poker have been receiving emails about gaming regulations and asked to log on to their Party Poker account via a link in the email in order to learn how it will impact them. The information is instead sent to the phishers, who collect the user names and passwords. The fraudulent email is up on the Websense Security Labs website, who first made the announcement about this scheme.
The scheme is clever because it takes advantage of the post-UIGEA poker landscape. With what happened to Neteller and the policy changes at many poker rooms, people will be more susceptible to believing the emails. For example Doyle’s Room recently sent out emails informing its customers that they were leaving the US market.
The phishers’ choice to attack Party Poker members, however, is an interesting one, since Party Poker left the US market right after the UIGEA was passed. A change in gaming regulations would make more sense at Poker Stars or Full Tilt Poker. Both sites have a sizable user base and are still open to US customers. The emails would be more effective due to the very real fear among US poker players that the sites could shut its doors to them at any moment. In relation to poker, this phishing scheme would be called a bad bluff.
phishing scheme. Party Poker, UIGEA
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