Skype phishing scam

Over TechCrunch, Duncan Riley alerts us to a surprising phishing scam:

Why in the world would a scammer want my Skype details? I have about $12 AUD in credit, which I suppose could be used to make calls, but it hardly seems worth the effort.

Notably, Gmail did not pick the email up as being a scam.

I checked the html for the email: the alleged skype link goes to a page on cec-icmc.org that is set up to look just like a page from Skype.

A quick search on Google results in other instances of Skype scams, but I didn’t find one exactly like this. In context, I don’t use Skype Out that often and Skype occasionally sends emails telling me that I have to use Skype Out to maintain the Skype Out credit, along with my Skype In number. This phishing scam keeps to the similar theme, in that Skype legitimately does on occasion request account updates.

A word of warning to the many, many Skype users out there: don’t trust emails claiming to be sent by Skype. If you’re already smart to this: good for you.

Read more here.