The economic meltdown is not devoid of economic opportunities. There's one group of folks who might do just fine: scammers.
Security experts have spotted an increase in phishing, the scam that uses fake e-mails to get people to hand over personal financial information that could be used to drain bank accounts or for identity theft.
It was no surprise to Dave Marcus, director of security research at McAfee Inc., one of the largest computer security firms.
"Whatever is happening out there in the world, you will see scams that take advantage of that," he said.
The banking crisis -- with its mergers and takeovers -- was tailor-made for phishing. It gives scammers the opportunity to send out e-mails claiming that personal account information is needed because of the changes.
McAfee began seeing phishing reports related to the crisis shortly after the well publicized failure and sale of Washington Mutual Bank in late September.
"Generally, if the issue is in the news on Monday morning, we'll start seeing the phishing start on Monday evening or Tuesday," Marcus said.
Even a bank deal that falls apart can generate phishing scams. This month, several security websites warned that an e-mail supposedly from Wachovia bank was being circulated.
"Citigroup announced a buyout of Wachovia brokered by the FDIC moments ago," the e-mail said. Bank customers were directed to go to a site where they would fill in account information in preparation for the takeover.
But the Citigroup buyout never happened -- Wells Fargo instead made a deal to acquire Wachovia. And the e-mails were bogus.
Wachovia put a warning on its website, stating that it never sends e-mails asking customers to "provide, update or verify your personal, business, account or other confidential information."
Phishing scams often begin with a spoofed e-mail that appears to come from a legitimate source.
In some cases, fraudsters exploit security loopholes to hijack a genuine e-mail address, making it appear that is where their messages are originating. Or they simply resort to using addresses that are close to the real thing.
Examples sited by security experts include misspellings that use a double "v" to simulate a "w," as in the fake bankofthevvest.com. Also, the number "1" has been used as a stand-in for the letter "l," as in www.paypa1.com.
But in many cases, the scammers don't even bother to make addresses look legitimate. They rely on alarming or alluring messages.
