Scam Targets Worldnet Customers

AT&T Worldnet Service, AT&T's ISP arm, is warning customers that they may have been targeted by an e-mail scam designed to capture their credit card information.

The company learned last week that some of its customers had received fraudulent e-mail messages purporting to be from AT&T Worldnet Service, says Tom Hopkins, an AT&T spokesperson. He says the company then sent e-mail to its customers warning them about the scam.

Hopkins says the e-mail messages contain the subject line "Billing Update Requested (Urgent)." They direct customers to a spoofed, or fake, Web site and ask them to supply their credit card information.

Hopkins says the sender's e-mail address is either "att.billing@worldnet.att.net," or "billing@worldnet.att.net."

Phishing Expedition

This scam is an example of "phishing," the practice of using fraudulent e-mail messages to try to trick recipients into clicking through to a fake Web site. The spoofed site typically resembles that of a particular company, such as AT&T Worldnet, and then dupes customers into providing their personal information.

AT&T has warned its customers of similar scams in the past, and such phisher scams have also targeted America Online and other major ISPs.

Hopkins declines to say exactly how many customers had fallen victim to the scam. However, he notes that AT&T has already arranged for the bogus Web sites to be removed.

He also says AT&T will never ask for customers' personal data by asking them to click onto a link in an e-mail. Rather, he says, the company directs customers to AT&T Worldnet's secure member Web site, where they would log in with their user IDs and passwords.

Hopkins adds that AT&T is working to protect its customers from similar scams in the future but declines to provide further details. Scammers could use that information to their advantage, he says.