Nashua police this week issued a phishing alert.
There have been several instances of the online fraud in the city in the last several months, police said.
Phishing usually involves a criminal emailing victims and posing as a legitimate company in an attempt to obtain sensitive financial information.
“Phishing attempts will commonly
ask you to provide or ’confirm’ a user name, password, account number or some other
personal information by clicking on a link in an email,” police said in a statement. “Clicking on these email links could
then download malicious software to your computer making it vulnerable to future theft of
personal information, or the link will redirect you to a website that appears to be legitimate to
“confirm” personal financial information, where it is actually being stolen.
“Another form of phishing is ’spear phishing,’ which is a targeted phishing attempt
commonly directed toward a business or organization. Spear phishing is also most commonly
done using email, but instead of being unsolicited it is sent to a specific person, often a
secretary or executive assistant, appearing to come from a person of authority. These emails
often request the recipient send money or financial information on behalf of the company.
The scams are often successful because these communications appear to come from a trusted
person in a recognized format. Businesses should ensure all employees are aware of these
types of scams and have layered safeguards in place to ensure money or financial information
is not sent to unintended recipients.
Police urged citizens to be especially on the lookout for these scams during the holiday season.