Beware of Craigslist phishing email scams

Filed Under: Spam

It came out of the blue. An email telling me that my listing for a "Sony PlayStation 3 Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 80GB bundle" had been posted on the Singapore branch of Craigslist.

This was a surprise for me for several reasons. One is that I haven't been to Singapore for over a year, another is that I've never used Craigslist in my life, and finally - and perhaps most importantly - I don't own a PlayStation 3. (I'm a Nintendo Wii fan).

Craigslist phishing email

But I'm just one of many people who were probably sent this email and some - no doubt - might be curious enough to click on the link to see what on earth this email is about.

And if you did click on the link then you would be taken to a webpage that looks as stark and barren as the real Craigslist login page:

Craigslist phishing webpage

But, of course, it isn't the real Craigslist page that you have arrived at, and if you do enter your username and password your details will be spirited away by hackers who will use your identity for their own nefarious purposes.

Remember - it's not just the online banks, eBay and PayPal who have phishers targeting their users. There are many other sites hungry for your passwords and identities.

,

About the author

Graham Cluley is senior technology consultant at Sophos. The readers of Computer Weekly voted him security blogger of the year in 2009 and 2010, and he pipped Stephen Fry to the title of "Twitter user of the year" too. Which was nice. He was also named "Best Security Blogger" by the readers of SC Magazine in 2011. You can subscribe to Graham's updates on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and circle him on Google Plus for regular updates.