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By George Norman - Software News Editor

Added on 02 Dec 2008(1035 Views)

It has recently come to light that phishers are taking advantage of McDonalds’ good name in order to get their hands on your private, confidential data. The method employed in this phishing attempt is a simple one: you are fooled into thinking that you will get a $75 reward if you just take the time to complete survey, during which you are of course asked to provide your credit card credentials.

According to Aivee Cortez, fraud analyst with TrendLabs, the method employed here is not exactly original. “This isn’t the first time a bogus survey has used in a phishing attack. Surveys related to Wal-Mart, American Airlines, and even U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama were previously used to collect personal information from potential victims.”


Pretty much all the surveys on the web use some form of incentive in order to get people to take it; this incentive may be money, products, or services. With the economy in a difficult state and with the upcoming winter holydays, people are naturally trying to save money. Phishers and scammers being a bright bunch, saw an opportunity to make a dishonest buck and launched this McDonalds survey scam.

The phishing scam goes something like this: the phishing site claims your account will be credited $75 if you take a “Member Satisfaction Survey”, during which you will be asked questions such as for how long have you been a McDonalds client, what are your favorite McDonalds products, how many times per month you visit the McDonalds web page, and how satisfied you are with their products and services. It all looks innocent enough until you get to the second phase of this so-called survey – you are now asked to provide your credit card number and expiration date, your full name, and the card’s “electronic signature” a.k.a. “atm pin”. Why would you ever give out your PIN number? According to the scammers, your card number and pin will be used for “authentification purposes” (and also to suck your account dry).





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Tags: McDonalds, Phishing, TrendLabs

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