Phishing alert: Recognizing the latest scam involving AlertPay's name
Posted On: 08 Apr 2011 02:54 PM

Details

Keep reading to learn about the latest scam on Facebook involving AlertPay's name, and how to protect yourself.

Some of you may have heard about a scam taking place through Facebook regarding our payment platform's name. Someone out there has been posting messages on people's Facebook walls telling them about AlertPay's "Own0" contest. The message directs readers to a website that looks just like our login page, but it actually IS NOT in any way affiliated with the real AlertPay.com.

How can you tell if it is not indeed our own website? Well, it's actually quite simple. Our URL is "AlertPay.com", not "AlertPay.own0.com". So if you come across a URL that reads like the latter, DO NOT enter your login credentials as this will compromise your security and the confidentiality of your personal information. Here is what it looks like on Facebook:



It's really quite a clever scam in that the con artist is actually referring to the contest as "Own0" -- the extension at the end of the fake AlertPay URL (what appears after "alertpay"). This subtle move is just enough to convince people that the URL is legitimate when, again, it is NOT.

It's also important to note that the alleged "AlertPay Facebook assistant's" post is not well-written. Although we are far from the best writers in the world (there can only be one Hemingway), but we do pay much attention to spelling, format and grammar.

How it works

If you click on this link, it will whisk you away to a FAKE AlertPay login page and you will be prompted to enter your login credentials. It will appear that the page is reloading and will actually redirect you back to the original login page. Why the reloading? Probably to confuse you. After entering your credentials and clicking on the login button, the scammer is actually recording the information you entered into the "Email" and "Password" fields. Once they capture those details, they can come straight to our website and gain access to your account to do what they please. You do not want this, so do not click on the link. If it does not say "AlertPay.com" or "AlertPay.com/[name of one of our sub-pages], avoid clicking on it at all costs.

Furthermore, our Security team is highly skilled in the art of busting people like this, but this is no excuse to be complacent. Your knowledge of these things is ultimately your responsibility so please do a little homework on the types of scams that can (and do) take place regularly in the online world.

We are not trying to scare you all, but we believe we need to be blunt and just a little frightening to communicate the gravity of these types of scams.

For more information on phishing and how to safeguard yourself against malicious individuals concerned only with personal gain, please visit our Security page.

Thanks for reading and take care!