Outline
Email purporting to be from mobile phone service provider Vodafone, invites recipients to click a link to view their bill online.
Brief Analysis
The email is not from Vodafone. It is a phishing scam designed to trick users into divulging their account login details to Internet criminals. Armed with the stolen data, the criminals can hijack the compromised Vodafone accounts, steal any personal and financial information stored within, and use the accounts for further fraudulent activities.
Example
Dear Customer
Just to let you know, your monthly bill’s are ready for you to view online at my (Vodafone online account) and you can click on the link below to view your bills.
Check your bill now >
Need help understanding your bill?
If this month’s bill is a bit more than usual, it could be because:
You went over the minutes, texts or internet included in your plan
You used your phone abroad or called international numbers
It includes usage outside of your plan – like calls to numbers starting ’08’
Got a question? Find the answer in our online support area
Keep track of your spend, wherever you are
There are quick and easy ways to see the minutes, texts and internet you have left.
Online – just log in to My Vodafone
By phone – call 44555 free from your Vodafone mobile
Thanks
Vodafone Customer Services team
Please don’t reply to this email, because your message won’t reach us.
We’re always careful with the information you give us. If you’d like to find out more about how we keep and use it, take a look at our privacy policy. See what you can do to keep your personal information safe too.
Check your account online
Detailed Analysis
This email, which purports to be from mobile phone service provider Vodafone, claims that the latest monthly bill is ready to view. The message invites users to click one of several links to access their account and view their bill online.
However, the email is not from Vodafone. It is a phishing scam designed to trick Vodafone customers into giving their account login details to cybercriminals.
Those who fall for the trick and click one of the links in the expectation of viewing their bill, will be taken to a fake login page designed to emulate the genuine Vodafone website. After they have provided their Account type, username and password and click the submit button, a “Thank you for updating your account” message will be displayed in the victim’s browser.
A link on the fake page labelled “Click here to Proceed” will direct victims back to the genuine Vodafone website.
Once they have collected the stolen login credentials, the scammers can use them to log into the genuine Vodafone accounts, steal any useful information they contain, and proceed with further fraudulent activities via the compromised account.
Fake “view your bill” messages are a common phishing ruse. Be wary of any email purporting to be from your service provider that invites you to view a bill online, or claims that you must rectify a billing or account issue by clicking a link or opening an attached file.
This technique is used regularly by phishing scammers and is also often used to distribute malware.
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
