Phishing Email Uses a $500 Gift Card to Trick Telstra Users

First detected today, the 15^th of October afternoon (AEST), the scam purports to be from Telstra and masquerades as a notification from the telecommunications giant.

Using a display name of ‘Telstra’ with a domain to match, the email actually originates from a single forged email address. It is titled ‘$500 Citibank Visa prepaid gift card reward’. The email’s body incorporates the Telstra logo and branding and advises the recipient that they need to claim their gift card reward before ‘18/10/2019’. A ‘claim link’ is provided for recipients to click on to access their gift card.

Unsuspecting recipients who click on the link to claim their award are redirected to a second URL which simulates a Telstra login page, as per the below:

This is actually a phishing page designed to harvest confidential details users. When the user inserts their login credentials, they are then led to a blank page, which is probably meant to simulate a slow connection or unreachable destination.

We urge email users to think twice before clicking any type of attachment or link in an email if they’re uncertain of its legitimacy.

Cybercriminals behind this scam use several elements within the email body to convince recipients that it is a legitimate notification from Telstra. These include employing high quality graphical elements such as Telstra’s branding in the emails and in the login page. A key feature is the inclusion of detailed delivery instructions in the email, informing users that they will need to verify their identity when they are claiming their reward and that ‘a signature is required for collection’.

These instructions boost the credibility of the email as these are common safety features that recipients are likely to expect from legitimate notifications from Telstra.

Telstra, by its large database and established brand credibility, is an ideal company to spoof by cybercriminals as it widens their victim pool.

MailGuard..