E-mail phishers Defense personnel frequent targets Published Aug. 1, 2007 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Defense Finance and Accounting Service and Keesler News staff Department of Defense military and civilian personnel continue to be targeted by e-mail phishing campaigns, according to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Recent fraudulent e-mails prompt recipients to click a link to update their government travel card account information due to an update of Web site features. "There have been at least three reported attempts at this base (Keesler) already, so this is hitting close to home," said 1st Lt. Mishaun Johnson, 81st Comptroller Squadron financial services flight chief. The scam targets both GTC holders and non-holders. "We (DOD employees) are in a group that, in general, people would say are pretty financially stable and they want a piece of that," Lieutenant Johnson said. Keesler and the DOD are countering these attempts. Lieutenant Johnson said Keesler has notified all commanders and GTC agency program coordinators about the scam. "We also sent all the reported cases up to Bank of America's fraud department to help them in their research," the lieutenant said. "BOA has determined that it is a fraudulent site, so the site should be shut down pretty soon, if it isn't shut down already." DFAS offers the following information to help stop fraud: Legitimate businesses won't ask to verify your personal information in response to e-mail. Most phishing e-mails convey a sense of urgency by threatening discontinued service or information loss if you don't take immediate action. Many phishing e-mails have misspellings, bad grammar or poor punctuation. Deceptive links in phishing e-mails look like they're to valid sites, but deliver you to fraudulent ones. Often you can see if the link is legitimate by moving your mouse over it. Many phishing e-mails use generic salutations and generic information instead of your name. When in doubt, type it out. If you suspect an e-mail to be phishing, don't click on any links in it. Type the valid address directly into your Web browser. "We have to protect our personal and professional assets and be extra careful about things like this," said Lieutenant Johnson. "Other-wise, we become victims of our lack of awareness." Second Lt. Nick Plante, Keesler News staff, contributed to this report.